The Plaza, sustainable waste management success

The Plaza, Oxford Street London

Working together with recycling and sustainable waste management experts B&M Waste Services, The Plaza on Oxford street in London have this month commenced increased segregation and recycling initiatives at the London premises, to avoid waste going to landfill.

New Waste Regulations came into effect 1st January 2015 called TEEP which say that all businesses must segregate their recyclable waste where Technically, Economically and Environmentally Practicable to do so. Implementing new equipment and waste collection schedule has assisted The Plaza in minimising their impact on the environment as well as complying with the new legislation.

John Tierny, Facilities Manager for Cushman and Wakefield who manage the facilities at the property said “As B&M Waste Services are carbon neutral and have had a number of success in improving recycling rates, and reducing environmental impact of other buildings in London such as the iconic 110 Bishopsgate, they were the natural partner for our project. Our aim was to introduce recycling and improve our carbon impact, whilst working with tenants to ensure they bought into the new project.

Bill May, Commercial Manager for B&M Waste Services said “After an initial audit we quickly advised that the twice daily collections were causing unnecessary congestion through collection vehicles frequently attending the site.

We considered the waste and have introduced both a cardboard baler and general waste compactor. This equipment still fits within the service area, and actually has a smaller footprint than the 12 waste containers previously in the area. We are collecting cardboard weekly and the compactor three times per week which means less carbon emissions from the vehicles being in the city. The other progressions is that the non-recyclable waste is being diverted from landfill and used as refuse derived fuel to produce heat and electricity at a combined heat and power plant as per our zero waste to landfill ethos”

B&M Waste Services provide customers with Environmental Reports which are approved by Carbon Footprint Ltd and demonstrate the amount of carbon saved through recycling. The number of trees and car miles this equates to are shown on these reports.

Moving forwards B&M Waste are always introducing the latest innovations to improve waste management efficiency, such as the B&M Waste Station for outlets looking to reduce food collections where they have sufficient quantities to warrant this equipment. They have also recently launched the B&M Haz box for companies with small regular amounts of hazardous waste such as bulbs, batteries, paint, oils, print cartridges, which cannot legally be placed in with general waste.