An estimated 8 million tonnes of plastic waste enters the sea and an estimated 18 million tonnes of waste is sent to UK landfill sites each year. The waste we produce increases by about 3% every year, this means that in 25 years the amount of waste we produce will have doubled! Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Germany recycle around 60% of their waste, compared with the UK’s current rate of around 45%. The UK government are now taking measures to improve rates of recycling and waste management by refreshing and renewing environmental policy. These measures support the commitment to double productivity and to eliminate avoidable waste, both by 2050.
In 2019 Resapol partnered with waste management service Biffa in order to streamline, simplify and introduce efficient methods of recycling to all of Resapol’s depots. With waste being split into three separate categories these new methods have since helped Resapol to become more environmentally friendly, achieve environmental compliance, improve recycling performance and to control costs.
Paper accounts for 26% of the total waste in UK landfills and recycling paper creates 73% less air pollution than making new paper from raw materials; a huge resource of time and money is spent by the UK government disposing of paper-based waste each year. Resapol have taken huge steps towards becoming a paperless business. The introduction of company-wide initiatives to discourage unnecessary printing have been implemented whilst promoting the use of digital tools and methods as alternatives. The first step of this process involved supplying the company’s warehouse and logistic staff with tablets, with software installed to allow them to perform stock and safety checks without the use of any physical paper. The UK uses over 12.5 million tonnes of paper each year; this equates to a forest the size of Wales, so reducing the amount of paper used within Resapol will make a small contribution towards decreasing this figure.
In 2021 we looked to further maintain upon our rates of efficient recycling to ensure we help to reduce the amount of avoidable waste being sent into the ocean and to UK landfill sites year on year.
Latest Statistics
Due to COVID-19 restrictions which limited the amount of staff present in each depot, combined with the fact that this year’s results conclude in mid-September, there has been a significant amount of reduced waste produced compared with our previous year’s data.
Resapol depots have effectively decreased the amount of waste going direct to the UK’s landfill sites, with our 2021 expected recycling results of 96.94% set to eclipse our previous years recycling record of 93.24%.