Effective management of waste – to minimise our impact on the environment
In light of the new restrictions from China on the import of waste materials, including post-consumer plastics, the UK government has just released its new 25-year Environment Strategy, in which there was a pledge to eliminate all avoidable plastic waste by 2042.
The UK produces vast quantities of plastic waste each year and in 2016, over a million tonnes of plastic was collected for recycling. (Source: Environment Agency)
The need to create a ‘circular resource economy’ approach is very significant. It would tackle the production, material handling, reprocessing, retailing and collection of plastics as well as consumer behaviour, and would help deliver the benefits of better recycling of plastics in the UK.
For organisations, collating and storing all waste management data is a crucial tool to optimise the effective management of waste. Using risk management software, such as RiskWise – the S2 Partnership’s online property risk management solution – provides an ideal medium for collating waste management data at asset, organisational and portfolio level including copies of associated waste transfer notes. A duty of care exists for organisations to ensure that all waste produced, is disposed of in line with legislative requirements, and that records about volume of waste are kept along with details of where and how the waste was disposed of.
The S2 Partnership has environmental consultants, who can carry out a waste management audit on behalf of clients. The aim is to identify all waste streams that a client is responsible for producing, or for managing on behalf of others, for example tenants. An audit identifies current waste performance and offers potential missing controls and improvements that could be made to the systems in place. The consultant will offer advice, based upon current legal requirements and industry best practice.
For more information, please contact us.