Belle Vale Shopping Centre Has Gone Green!

Belle Vale shopping centre (BVSC) is passionate about the environment and have been working hard to reduce their carbon footprint. The centre staff and tenants separate & recycle waste generated at the centre and has achieved ZERO waste to landfill. This great success continues as they now separate more waste than ever before.

The centre is located 6 miles south of Liverpool city centre right in the heart of the community of Belle Vale. With over 60 retail units, Jungle Fun children’s soft play area, Xercise4less Gymnasium and Area 51 Lazer Quest, the Centre is an exciting destination for shoppers of all ages. The numbers of visitors to the centre have increased over recent years and this has led to more waste being generated.

As part of the shopping centre’s green ethos and environmental efficiencies, the management team chose to work with Carbon Neutral B&M Waste Services to provide innovative solutions to their waste management. Before any new services could be implemented, B&M Waste Services first conducted a free site audit.  The current waste streams were assessed to give a thorough understanding of BVSC’s recycling needs. As a Carbon Neutral Company B&M strive to achieve 100% diversion from landfill. By segregating waste at the source, more can be recycled, which in turn means less goes to landfill and less carbon is emitted.

After completing their audit, B&M Waste devised a recycling strategy to meet the current demands of Belle Vale Shopping Centre. B&M introduced additional bins such as 1100 litre euro bins for the collection of polythene and bins for the collection of plastic bottles & drinks cans. This has provided visitors and employees in the centre with more opportunities to segregate their waste, which has in turn increased BVSC’s recycling levels. A general waste compactor is also on site to lessen the frequency of collections needed each week. The wagons B&M Waste use can carry 16 bales of compacted waste; BVSC ensure they arrange a collection at 14 bales to guarantee a full payload and optimise the recycling schedule. Fewer collections means fewer vehicles which not only saves BVSC money, but also means less carbon is emitted overall.

The centre already recycles, cardboard & paper, polythene, plastic bottles and drinks cans. All remaining general waste is recycled at a Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) facility rather than going to landfill. The RDF facility bales the waste which is then sent to a combined heat and power plant, which creates energy from the baled waste.

To ensure the new equipment is used correctly and the highest level of recycling is being achieved, staff training and clear signage has been provided for all the new equipment.

Belle Vale Shopping Centre receives bespoke environmental reports so they can see exactly where there waste has gone and how much they have recycled through different processes. BVSC are currently achieving 100% diversion from landfill with B&M and the new services in place.

Paul Wilson, Belle Vale Shopping Centre Manager commented “The improvements we have made as a result of recycling impact not only on our bottom line costs, but also create a positive reduction in carbon from waste produced at the centre. Obtaining tenant buy-in has been paramount and B&M Waste is the perfect partner for our green agenda, given their Carbon Neutral status and ethos of sending zero waste to landfill. Service has been impeccable and we receive regular contact from our account manager to check all is well, which has been a great part of the relationship with B&M.”

“We are more than just a shopping centre and are often seen as a community hub through our engagement with schools and local residents. We are now starting to further improve our waste segregation and recycling through the introduction of food and glass bins across the site. B&M have even offered to plant some trees to offset carbon emissions and make our entrance on Hedgefield Road more appealing. We are also hoping to engage the local school children in this tree planting activity.”

Steve Dale, Key Account Manager at B&M Waste Services said “Belle Vale really is the heart of the community and we are proud to work with them on reducing their environmental impact through increased recycling. We look forward to further assisting them and praise them for their forward thinking green initiatives.”