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WDH has increased its recycling rate from 31% to 93.5%
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Of the 5,500 tonnes of waste that Wakefield and District Housing (WDH) shifts each year - which includes anything from office waste, to old dumped mattresses recovered from estates - only 31% of it was recycled with the rest going to landfill.
In April this year WDH commenced a new waste contract with a new supplier, Viridor, who have a facility that they claimed could recycle 85% of waste – although as part of the agreement WDH informed them that it is determined to achieve 100% recycling of its waste within the life of the contract.
Last weekend the WDH Procurement Team put their claim of 85% to the test and Viridor ran a 35-tonne sample of WDH waste through their recycling plant.
Remarkably, the resulting test showed that 93.5% of WDH waste could now be recycled, diverting an extra 3,400 tonnes annually away from landfill.
Dave Cousans, WDH Corporate Procurement Manager, said: “Recycling such large volumes of waste is not just environmentally friendly but actually has led to a reduction in our waste disposal costs – a real win-win situation.”
WDH Energy Efficiency Manager Owen Daggett said: “Diverting waste from landfill sites is a key target for WDH as the space available in these sites is quickly running out.
“What we've shown in terms of increased recycling rates over the past few months is that it is possible to recycle most, or even all, of our waste. The challenge now is to increase this rate even further to 100%.”
