How can your school reduce waste disposal costs?

Schools in England throw away the equivalent weight of 185 double-decker buses of waste every school day. This equates to 258,300 tonnes of waste a year, which the local authorities must dispose of. Therefore, it is imperative that schools dispose of their waste in a cost-effective and sustainable way.

What waste do schools produce?

Schools create a lot of waste and most of it can be disposed of in an environmentally friendly way. The majority of waste produced in the education sector is food waste, as a whooping 80,382 tonnes of food waste is generated each year. This is from packed lunches and hot dinners eaten by students and staff as well as snacks and breakfast eaten by some students. This is closely followed by recyclable paper such as cardboard, textbooks, and letters as well as waste such as Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE), sanitary products, and plastics. All of these products are all used daily in schools.

How do schools dispose of waste?

Due to the range of waste produced, schools can often see waste disposal as a difficult challenge. This leads to a lot of school waste ending up in landfill for a quick and easy disposal solution. Figures indicate that the education sector only recycles around 23% of its waste, even though 80% of this waste is recyclable.

The current waste management strategies are very expensive for local authorities. For example, food waste in the education sector costs around £2,100 per tonne meaning that over the course of a year the local authorities will provide £250 million to handle school food waste alone.

Due to increasing budget restraints placed on local authorities, there is a great need to reduce overheads and operating costs linked to waste management. This means that changes are needed to combat waste management issues and excessive costs, but how is this achieved?

How can schools reduce costs?

Reduce waste going to landfill

Reducing waste that ends up in landfill is one option to save money as it will avoid preventable costs such as large waste disposal charges, landfill taxes, and VAT. It is estimated that if the local authorities disposed of waste using sustainable methods they could save £6.4 million.

Flame UK can dispose of your school’s waste with the assurance that sustainability is ensured. We will send food waste to be composted and paper to recycling as we strongly believe that as little waste as possible should go to landfill. We will also ensure that we use a cost-effective approach and you can even generate additional income through cardboard recycling.  

Rent a baler

Schools can also use a baler to compact aluminium, plastics, cardboard and paper. This will be cost-efficient as bales of waste are easier to transport and dispose of. This will reduce waste management costs as you can use smaller bins and pay for fewer waste collections. 

Flame UK offers a baler rental service and can provide a range of different balers to suit different needs. To find out more about the benefits of using a baler check out our blog.

Use a waste management company   

By partnering with a waste management specialist, such as Flame UK, you’ll have the support, advice, and expertise that you need to solve any waste issues that you come across.

We ensure that our waste management is ethical and sustainable and will always be available to support you with any issues or queries. We also ensure that we operate within regulatory guidelines and provide the most cost-effective support with an understanding of tight budgets within the sector.

Contact Us

Our knowledgeable team can help with any of your school waste management needs – contact us today to find out more about how we can help your school manage its waste more effectively.