PSWMC - Changing the way we work

Organisation

Nature of Project 

Project Update

Barry College

The college are looking to attain Green Dragon standard level 3 and reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill. 

Audits at 4 college campus sites were completed during March 2010. The audits have identified that there is potential to recycle in excess of 15 tonnes of paper and card, plastic bottles and food waste. 

Cardiff City and County Council

To assess current waste management practices for different materials at Highways, Parks and Bereavement services; to assist with the implementation of options for reductions of waste sent to landfill and increased recycling – in particular hard plastics, fly tipped waste and heavily contaminated biodegradable waste.

Cardiff University

To look at how to improve the efficiency of schemes already implemented and assist with the identification of new opportunities to reduce waste.

The work will also help the university implement a (current) pilot EMS.

Audits were carried out during Autumn '09.

£17,000 of savings have been identified in diversion of over 200 tonnes of general waste from landfill through improved provision of recycling including food waste, and communications. 

Carmarthenshire County Council

The Council are part of Carmarthen Local Service Board.

Work will be carried out to help the council complete a more informed audit of the current performance of recycling initiatives, and assist with the development of a monitoring plan. The work will inform an action plan, which will accommodate continued action on waste minimisation and diversion from landfill, plus increased recycling and sustainability, complying with the commitments set by the LSB.

Audits at the council to include assessment of current recycling scheme success have been continuing during December to February.

 Current initiatives have helped achieve a 20% increase in recycling during 2009/10 compared to 2008/9. 

Suggestions are being pulled together to determine a robust monitoring approach which will help to ensure that a further waste reduction target of 5% during 2010/11 can be met. 

Recommendations also include clear labelling of bins and consistent colour coding of recycling bins across all council premises. 

Coleg Morgannwg

The college have requested support to carry out an audit of the current waste management systems in order to develop and implement a focused action plan. Work will include implementing recycling for paper, plastic bottles and cans; targeting waste minimisation and help engaging staff and students.

Waste composition audits at each of the 3 sites were completed at the end of February.

 The audits showed that of the 700 tonnes of general waste produced from the college per year, over 90% has the potential to be recycled! 

 Aiming for a 50% recycling rate would reduce the amount of waste landfilled by 352 tonnes, and achieve savings of over £30,000. 

Conwy County Borough Council

To increase recycling by 50% and develop and implement an ‘Environmental Champions’ campaign at the Civic Centre building. The project will provide advice and guidance on the communication of the current recycling scheme predominantly through internal workshops to raise participation by staff.

A draft communications campaign plan detailing guidance on how to deliver a proposed recycling and waste minimisation scheme was issued December '09 for discussion.

The campaign has now been implemented across the council premises, with posters encouraging staff participation. A link officer is reponsible for assessing contamination at each site, and this information is fed back to the waste and recycling team. 

Residual waste production is being monitored to measure the success of the scheme. The next step is for the level of success to be fed back to staff, to remind them of the importance of recycling, and maintain maximum participation. 

Coleg Glan Hafren

The further education college requested assistance to look at opportunities for waste segregation to reduce volumes of general waste.

An action plan has been produced focussed on increased recycling, and better segregation of waste which would result in diversion of at least 20% of current waste volumes sent to landfill, and associated cost savings.

To aid this, the college have applied to receive funding for recycling bins.

 Coleg Sir Gar

To establish an improved data system for data collection, recording and monitoring of waste at each of the 5 college sites taking into consideration different requirements and services at each site. THe objective is to set realistic targets for reduction of waste to landfill.

Audits took place to determine the type of waste and options for waste minimisation at each of the 5 campus sites during March 2010. The recycling rate at the campus varied between 30-70% with an overall recycling rate of 53.5%.]

Improving the recycling rate to  70% across all college sites is expected to result in increased diversion of over 40 tonnes per year resulting in substantial cost savings. 

A monitoring spreadsheet has been developed to track waste minimisation and recycling progress. 

Intellectual Property Office (formerly the Patent Office)

The IPO are receiving support to look at the overall existing waste handling and management systems and procedures on site; identify any barriers to achieving its taregt to recycle 60% of waste by March 31^st 2010 and to provide support with developing and implementing an action plan addressing barriers identified. Support is likely to be required to raise internal awareness of current waste management initiatives.

Audits to determine the type of waste produced, and options for waste minimisation commenced in early March 10. 

The audit showed that through improvements in bin location and increased participation of existing recycling schemes, as well as implementing a food waste composting scheme for kitchenette areas, the IPO could divert in excess of an additional 24 tonnes of paper and paper towels, 9 tonnes of food waste, 2 tonnes of cardboard and 4 tonnes of plastic.

Implementation of these recommendations has the potential to save over £4000 per year. 

 A composter for onsite treatment of food waste is due to be installed late 2010.

Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service

Assistance will be given to create an effective waste management policy; to procure recycled content goods; to identify stations/sites that can accommodate recycling systems and determine robust recording and audit systems. The assistance will also include guidance on communications activities.

Audits at 7 typical service sites were completed during February. Headline results show that there is opportunity at some sites to increase recycling by up to 50% through streamlining procedures.

Pembrokeshire School

This secondary school have achieved Eco-Schools Bronze Award and require support to implement an action plan, (developed and tailored to the needs of the School), to reduce waste, increase recycling, engage staff and pupils with an overall aim of integrating sustainability, recycling and waste minimisation into the curriculum for all year groups.

The school has the potential to reduce waste to landfill by over 60% through increased provision of recycling. 

South Wales Fire and Rescue Service

This project will focus on assisting the design and development of an internal
recycling awareness campaign to be delivered to Service premises and staff. 

An event was held early February, and a questionnaire issued to establish staff opinions on barriers to implementing and increasing recycling by the South Wales Fire and Rescue Service.

A 'Green team' meeting was held to review design of communications material that will be available to all fire stations to clearly identify recycling facilities. 

All stations have been provided with recycling bins / boxes to maximise the amount of material collected, and the Service are investigating approaches to provide homogenous collections to all stations, currently serviced by several local authorities.

South Wales Police

To set up recycling points for materials at South Wales Police HQ in Bridgend. This project will predominantly address styrene plastics and non-confidential waste paper. The aim is to achieve a 25% reduction in waste from the 2008 baseline figure. The project also involves investigating the design and development of an internal communications programme.

A telephone survey of main suppliers servicing the force generating styrene waste was conducted during Autumn 09.

A number of options to divert the styrene waste are being investigated.

Significant progress in promotion and diversion of waste is expected as a result of working with suppliers to reduce packaging delivery waste. 

The Sports Council for Wales - Welsh Institute of Sport, Cardiff

To investigate the efficiency of existing recycling schemes and options for increased diversion of waste from landfill.

A summary report has indicated that increased diversion of recycling through resituating recycling points with multi material bin clusters. Diversion of food waste may result in an overall maximum of 20% diversion from landfill, which has the potential to significantly reduce frequency of collection and associated costs.

Sustained efforts to manage waste through procurement activities will help to support diversion from landfill.

Flintshire County Council

The Council are looking for assistance in collecting data on all waste and recycling streams to construct an accurate waste baseline for the Council and to facilitate quantification of any waste management/reduction measures employed by the Council.

Audits were carried out at six Council sites during October 2010.  Reports identifying waste management/reduction opportunities and actions plans were provided to the Council shortly after. 

The audits showed that waste management and recycling practices varied across the sites, with some sites recycling a greater range of material than others. Recommendations included a review of recycling practices across all sites, improvements to waste receptacle signage and a review of staff engagement in waste management and recycling.  

To quantify the amount of food waste produced on the main campus from both university buildings and halls of residence, to assess the potential for developing an onsite solution to treat this waste and in the short terms local services available for the collection of this waste stream

Baseline audits have been completed to identify the quantities of food waste produced and to assess current handling practices. 

A report is currently being prepared. 

Amman Valley School

To provide support to the school to establish the quantity and types of waste generated at the school through providing guidance and support to the school’s eco club to encourage student involvement in the waste agenda.  In addition, communications support will also be provided to guide the eco-club in communicating waste topics to staff and fellow students.

The audit established potential opportunities to divert 8 tonnes of general waste per year from landfill, saving approximately £5,000 per year in disposal costs for general waste.  Support was also provided in the development of effective communication techniques and approaches, with the eco-club developing their own branding ‘Trashman’ which is to be used throughout the school.

The overall aim of the project is to understand the current waste management practices at the University’s Plas Coch and Regent Street sites and identify improvements and changes that can be made in order to reduce the amount of waste that is sent to landfill.

Site audits were undertaken in October 2010 to review current waste management practices and analyse the composition of the general waste to understand the potential for diverting additional waste from landfill.

A report has been prepared, which outlines a number of opportunities and actions that were identified during the site audits. These include implementing recycling collections across all sites, ensuring existing collections are maximised by the availability of appropriate bins at key locations and implementation of appropriate monitoring to measure improvements.

The overall aim of the project is to understand the current waste management practices at the different Coleg Meirion Dwyfor sites. This will establish a baseline for the amount of waste arising and provide an indication of the potential for the separate collection of some waste types, such a recyclables from the municipal waste. Opportunities and changes that could be made in order to reduce the amount of waste generated and sent to landfill will be identified.

In October 2010 site audits were undertaken at five sites to review current waste management practices and analyse the composition of the general waste to understand the potential for diverting additional waste from landfill.

A report has been prepared, which outlines a number of opportunities and actions that were identified during the site audits.

To assess quantities of waste and recyclate collected and investigate expansion of council recycling scheme to all council premises - to include leisure centres

An assessment was made of several council premises, including a multi service centre, leisure centre, library and 'one stop shop' to gain an overview of current waste management practices, and identify any opportunities for improvement. 

Through better promotion and increased provision of available recycling facilities  and full engagement of staff, some areas of the council could increase diversion of waste from landfill by up to 50%.

The council have applied to the Resource Efficiency Equipment Fund to improve the quality of recycling bins. 

The audit established potential opportunities to divert 79 tonnes of general waste per year from landfill.  This saving could primarily be realised through rolling out recycling services across a greater number of its stations for the collection of dry recyclable materials as well as food waste.

To identify improve the quality and quantity of material collected for recycling at council properties, with a focus on reducing contamination through staff awareness raising, training and engagement.

 Audits of the bins were conducted to determine the potential for increased diversion from general waste, and going forward the number of bin collections will be monitored to measure increase in staff recycling.

Once this is achieved, food waste collections can be implemented to divert food waste generated from council office desk and kitchenette areas

To provide support to the LSB to set targets for waste and provide guidance for the monitoring of waste by each organisation.

to review the general waste stream which is landfilled by each member organisation of the LSB, in order to establish the quantity and composition of general waste landfilled each year. Recommendations on waste minimisation, recycling and composting are to be provided to each member organisation, (and existing systems reviewed as appropriate) as well as a guidance on monitoring waste in future years.