Category Archives: Environment

Environment, News

Black Friday sales contributing to devastating e-waste

With Black Friday just around the corner (29 November), UK retailers are stocking-up to sell billions of pounds of appliances and electronics.

However, with an estimated 1.4 million tonnes of e-waste landfilled in the UK every year, savvy-shoppers are being urged to think twice about the environmental impact of their seasonal spending sprees.

Recent research from online spare parts retailer, eSpares, found that 75% of Brits don’t attempt to fix appliances when they break down and instead opt to purchase expensive new models. 10% of the population also revealed that they didn’t like to keep unfashionable old appliances. Black Friday’s continued growth in the UK is therefore somewhat unsurprising.

However, as a result of the UK’s throwaway culture, millions of tonnes of unnecessary e-waste is created every year – 70% of which is reported as ‘unaccounted for’ and either landfilled, flytipped or shipped overseas.*** It’s clear that this wasteful behaviour is having a catastrophic impact on the environment.

eSpares’ Ad Casey commented:

“With the headlines dominated by ocean plastics, e-waste has seemingly slipped under the radar. But with every UK resident creating almost 15kg of e-waste per annum (a collective national weight 100 times heavier than the Eiffel Tower), it’s a terrifying issue that we can’t continue to ignore.”

The message from eSpares is clear. Think twice this Black Friday about whether or not you could fix your existing appliance before buying new – you may be surprised by just how quick and easy it can be. If you do need to buy a replacement, make sure you dispose of your old model correctly to minimise its environmental impact.

To inspire a national change towards disposing of e-waste, eSpares has launched #FixFirst – an initiative that provides free comprehensive information on how to fix appliances and help protect the environment. The company’s Advice Centre features more than 500 ‘how to’ videos, 700 fault fix articles and 9,000 appliance manuals, all of which help consumers to fix – not throw away.

For more information about the #FixFirst campaign, visit https://espares.co.uk/fixfirst.

Environment, L & D

ESMT Berlin first triple-accredited business school in Germany to launch blended MBA program

ESMT Berlin will offer a part-time blended MBA program, consisting of 80 percent online and 20 percent face-to-face content, starting in September 2020. The program is directed at early to mid-career professionals who wish to study in parallel with their work but do not want to miss the benefits of working with other students and expanding their network. Participants can choose whether to attend their classroom sessions in Berlin or Munich, meeting every two months from Thursday afternoon to Saturday afternoon for their on-site modules.

Applications can be submitted now at http://degrees.esmt.berlin/part-time-mba.

The curriculum offers new skills and career development for employees of large companies, Mittelstand, and startups with a focus on innovation and business transformation. The program will be taught by experienced ESMT faculty who are currently delivering a customized blended MBA. Students will use an innovative online-learning platform developed together with an international alliance of renowned business schools, including Imperial College Business School, University of Melbourne, and IE Business School. Tuition for the 24-month blended MBA program is €38,000.

“A well-designed blended program can vastly improve learning outcomes by ensuring that all students have digested the basic materials before coming to class discussions,” says Nick Barniville, associate dean of degree programs at ESMT and director of the school’s educational technology (EdTech) lab.

“While online modules are well suited to conveying factual knowledge, the integrated face-to-face modules embed the learning and trigger behavioral change. Face-to-face is also crucial for networking and personal development. The blended format is, at least from ESMT’s perspective, preferable compared to a purely online program.”

ESMT is top-ranked by the Financial Times and has been the highest placed business school for executive education in Germany since entering the rankings in 2010.

Environment, News

Viridor and Unilever agree five-year contract for recycled plastic

Viridor and Unilever have agreed a new contract which will see Unilever receive of a range of recycled plastic from Viridor’s £65m Avonmouth Resource Recovery Centre near Bristol.

The companies – both founding members of the UK Plastics Pact – have agreed an initial five-year contract for recycled plastic from the plant which is powered by non-recyclable waste through Viridor’s new £252m Avonmouth Energy Recovery Facility.

Viridor Resource Management Managing Director Keith Trower said:

“Viridor and Unilever are committed to helping the UK achieve its recycling and sustainability targets and this contract demonstrates how we are translating that ambition into action.

“To do this in a meaningful way, Viridor has acknowledged the UK plastic reprocessing capacity gap and our Avonmouth investment is our response to that market demand. By putting more recycled plastic back into the economy, and powering that process with non-recyclable waste, we are creating a sustainable solution and ensuring consumer brands, such as Unilever, have access to quality post-consumer recycled material.”

Mr Trower added:

“Crucially, this contract also recognises the relationship between UK Plastics Pact partners and how such collaboration is vital if we are to achieve closed loop recycling solutions and achieve the Pact’s goals of 30% average recycled content across all plastic packaging by 2025.”

Sebastian Munden, Unilever UK & Ireland General Manager, said:

“Unilever has committed to increase its use of recycled plastic and close the loop on plastic packaging.

He said:

“Limited availability of high-quality recycled content has, though, remained a challenge and that’s why we’re so pleased that our collaboration with Viridor will bring extra capacity on-line in the UK. This will be essential towards creating a more circular market, as well as contributing to the UK Plastic Pact targets.

“We think that UK citizens will also be encouraged to recycle more if they can see their efforts being rewarded with more plastic going back into new bottles and not ending up in the environment.”

Viridor MD Phil Piddington said the Avonmouth plant was a crucial part of the company’s circular economy commitments and an important next step in its plastic recycling strategy.

Mr Piddington said:

“The unique design of the site – incorporating sophisticated energy recovery and recycling technology – allows for the transfer of power and heat to serve the recycling and reprocessing site, creating a truly resource and energy-efficient waste management solution.

“Reprocessed plastic uses 50% less electricity than virgin plastic, which is already a very persuasive argument in favour of recycled materials. When we reduce our energy consumption further by tapping in to the low carbon power created through energy recovery, we can achieve even greater sustainability and environmental efficiency.”

Viridor and Unilever have previously worked together with Nextek Ltd on detectable black plastic packaging for Unilever’s TRESemmé and Lynx personal care brands with trials carried out at Viridor’s Rochester Polymers Recycling Facility in Kent.

In year one, the UK’s biggest multi-polymer plant at Avonmouth will produce 60KTPA of high quality recycled plastic a year from 81KTPA feedstock, rising to 89KTPA in year three, producing 63KTPA of recycled material.

The Viridor project will put 60,000 tonnes of recycled plastic from bottles, pots, tubs and trays in PET, HDPE and PP flake and pellet form) back in the economy every year as a viable and sustainable solution to virgin plastic. It will be powered by diverting 320,000 tonnes of waste from landfill and generating 282GWh of electricity – the equivalent energy used to power around 77,000 homes.

Environment, North of England, Transport

Warrens Group announces major investment in new biofuel powered fleet

Leading waste recycling and sustainability firm, Warrens Group has announced that it has updated the company’s fleet with four new vehicles that run on biofuel.

The Newton Aycliffe-based business, which is committed to converting all of its distribution operations to fossil-free sources by 2025, has taken delivery of trucks that rely on biomethane gas and generate 84% percent less carbon dioxide than diesel.

The vehicles make Warrens the first food waste recycling company in the UK to power its HGV waste collection vehicles with biogas converted directly from its own food waste customers.

Warrens Group director Antony Warren, said:

“As a company, we pride ourselves on our forward-thinking, we’ve always been early adopters of the latest technology and methods. We took delivery of our first bio-fuelled vehicle in September last year and had always planned to add more.”

The new biomethane powered trucks will be in operation six days a week, with refuelling carried out on site at the Newton Aycliffe facility. They will collect food waste from existing customers including pubs, restaurants, schools and supermarkets across the North East.

Adam Warren, director of Warrens Group, said:

“We firmly believe that a sustainable business is a better business. Sustainability is something we advocate to all organisations and communities, as we support their efforts to address the environmental issues caused by traditional methods of waste disposal. By powering our own fleet on the biogas it collects, we are demonstrating that when it comes to sustainability, we really do practice what we preach.

“We believe that if big business and industry fuelled HGVs on gas made from renewable sources, carbon emissions would be almost eliminated. This development is timely because the adverse effects of poor air quality on human health and climate change are two of the most pressing environmental issues we face today.”

Gas industry expert and managing director of CNG Services, John Baldwin, said:

“The HGVs on the UK roads have a disproportionate environmental impact; whilst they represent only 5% of road vehicles, they consume around 25% of road diesel and are responsible for around 27% of roadside NOx and 18% of transport-related CO2 emissions.

“The acquisition of trucks that are powered by the biomethane gas they help to generate means CO2 emissions are reduced by almost 100% – which could very possibly give Warrens Group the lowest carbon footprint for collection of food waste on the planet.”

Data, Environment, Technology

Environmental responsibility and information security: two sides of the same coin?

Ian Osborne, Vice President UK and Ireland, Shred-it, considers whether the dual need for tackling data security and improving sustainability are in fact connected.

Environmental sustainability has never been higher on the national agenda. With Extinction Rebellion protests dominating the news, the UN Climate Summit taking place last month and the UK celebrating National Recycle Week, the public is not just looking at how they can be more environmentally aware; they are also looking at how businesses can help to tackle major environmental issues.

Most private companies in the UK – 99 percent, in fact – are small businesses that have less than 249 employees. It follows that the extent to which SMEs embrace recycling, cut down energy use and other green initiatives has an enormous impact on the environment.

Paper recycling goes a long way towards hitting sustainability targets and demonstrating environmental good practice and is one of the easiest and most common ways a workplace can help protect the environment.  But with the risk of security breaches at an all-time high, it’s important that workplaces also prioritise data security, while still committing to green office initiatives.

Recent guidance from the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has confirmed that whether we leave with EU with or without a deal this month, most of the data protection rules affecting SMEs will remain the same. With the UK continuing to adhere to EU GDPR, information security must remain a top priority for small businesses.

Recycling paper carries certain risks. Those documents sitting in a recycling bin or waiting in large clear plastic bags by the lift are a magnet for data thieves. Replacing recycling bins with locked consoles ensures documents can’t be retrieved once inside, but a shred-everything approach is really the best policy. Research shows that more than a quarter of information breaches are caused by employee negligence or error. By making the decision to shred all documents that are no longer needed, employees don’t have to decide what is or isn’t confidential – at the same time as increasing the volume of documents that are securely recycled.

If handled correctly, shredding your paper not only ensures document security, but it decreases an organisation’s environmental footprint.  Shredding also improves the paper recycling process because there are virtually no pollutants (e.g. plastic or metal) mixed in with shredded paper.

In terms of environmental footprint, for every two consoles of securely shredded paper that is recycled, one tree is saved.  Secure recycling processes help to save thousands of trees every year – as well as reducing carbon emissions and water and other natural resource usage.

There are other simple steps based on the  “Three Rs” – reduce, reuse, recycle –  that can kickstart your company’s sustainability programme. For example, paper use can be cut in half by having your printers’ default to two-sided printing. In addition, computers can be turned off when not in use, which in turn ensures greater security of company information.

These steps can help to keep employees motivated and on track and will set the stage for more ambitious initiatives, which may include introducing policies to purchase eco-friendly office and cleaning supplies, sourcing materials used in daily operations from green suppliers, installing energy-efficient appliances, buying second-hand furniture and other fixtures, and taking advantage of government programmes that offer financial and resource support to small businesses to step up their green efforts.

We live in an age where every business – no matter how big or small – must implement environmental and security policies, while reminding staff of their commitments. Being environmentally responsible is good for business, but it’s a long-term commitment, and needs to coexist with clear data protection policies. Given what is at stake for the environment, the community and the UK economy at large, it is a collaborative effort that businesses of all sizes must embrace.