Saving waste

For Bicester-based water filter cartridge specialist BRITA UK, the secret has been the way it’s been helped to segregate many different waste streams.

A waste audit, carried out in order to help the business achieve its goal of sending zero waste to landfill, identified an astonishing 30 different waste streams which could be recycled or reprocessed.

These included silicon labels, polystyrene and packing paper, as well as diverting items such as aerosols from general waste to Grundon’s own specialist closed loop aerosol recycling system and swapping plastic milk cartons for recyclable glass bottles.

BRITA was even able to successfully remove metal from its waste stream altogether, simply by asking contractors to take their waste away with them.

Bryan Edwards, BRITA UK’s Professional & Services Warehouse Manager, said: “Grundon showed us all the other ‘extras’ that could be recycled or reprocessed and they knew what to do with them. They encouraged us to segregate the waste streams internally and helped us understand how they should be processed and baled through the compactors ready for collection.

“It also means we have dramatically reduced the number of vehicle collections necessary, making us much more carbon friendly. And even now, when we have a review, our account manager will always be looking for something new to segregate and help us get that little extra something from our waste.”

The company was rewarded for its efforts in 2019, when it won a prestigious Silver Green Apple Award for Environmental Best Practice in the Products and Recycling Wastes Management category.