Environmentally Friendly Waste Collections: Our Tips

One of the first things you can do when looking to make your waste collections more environmentally friendly is to get a good understanding of all your waste streams. Once you’ve worked out all the different types of waste streams you’re producing, you’ll have a better idea of where you’ll need to make improvements. For example, there’s no point in you investing in a separate food waste collection if you’re only generating a small amount.

Another great step is to look and see if you can reduce the amount of waste that you’re generating in the first place. According to the waste hierarchy, it’s better to look for reduce and reuse routes before you consider throwing things away. Can any of your WEEE waste be fixed before it’s thrown away? Or, can you implement a First In, First Out policy to reduce the possibility of any food waste? If you can reduce the amount of waste you’re producing, you’ll need fewer collections. This can help to boost the sustainability of your waste management strategy.

Another way you can ensure that your waste collections are as environmentally friendly as possible is to ensure that all your waste streams are segregated correctly. This makes sure that none of your waste is contaminated with any other types of waste. For example, if your dry mixed recycling isn’t properly separated from your food waste, the recyclable materials will not be able to be recycled. Therefore, it’s important that you’re properly separating your waste to ensure that as much is being recycled as possible. This helps to make your waste collections even more eco-friendly.

Sometimes it’s a good idea to let technology help. There’s a range of different equipment and technology that can help you cut down on the amount of collections you need, helping you make your waste management as environmentally friendly as possible.

When you looked at your waste streams, did you realise you’re producing lots of cardboard waste? You could look at renting out a baler. These compress your cardboard into manageable bales which you can easily stack. If your site is short on space these can help you maximise every inch of storage space to increase the time between collections. These cuts the carbon footprint of your waste collections as less fuel is used in the collection. Bales can also have a rebate value, so you could be saving the environment and generating some extra income.

It’s important that you’re taking all the necessary steps to make your waste collections more environmentally friendly. However, there will probably still be some environmental impact of your waste. That’s where Flame UK’s carbon neutral waste collection service comes in. We’ll reduce the amount of carbon created from your waste collection as much as possible. We’ll use low emission vehicles where possible and use efficient scheduling to reduce the distance the vehicle has to take. Then, we’ll calculate the carbon emissions created after this and offset the remaining carbon through UN approved carbon credits.