Recycling in 2008
You can't afford not to!
Waste disposal costs can be up to 5% of your companies' annual turnover, so more and more businesses are finding it pays to look at sustainable ways of dealing with waste.It needn't increase anyone's workload and there are many practical ways to minimise waste and reduce environmental impact.
Think about the type of waste you produce at work and then look at reducing it by reusing and recycling.
Why Is paper recycling important?
The UK is the fifth highest consumer of paper and cardboard in the world consuming more than 11 million tones of every year. Paper is a renewable resource, which means that we can grow more trees but this takes vast amounts of time and as demand continues to grow, it is becoming more and more difficult to meet the consumer demands. To keep up with UK paper consumption, a forest the size of Wales is required every year.
Recycling paper at work
Removing paper from the general waste stream can divert significant amounts of material from landfill, protecting the environment, and result in significant savings of up to 35% on waste charges for businesses.
Why recycle cardboard?
We use huge volumes of cardboard for packaging in the UK. Cardboard is bulky and can fill up waste skips and bins at an alarming rate. Similarly to paper it is easily recycled and composted.Cardboard makes up 5% of the general waste stream but it is 100% recyclable.
Why recycle cans?
When you collect aluminium and steel drinks cans and foil for recycling, you are helping the environment.
- The UK uses over 5 billion drinks cans each year.
- Currently less than 40% of all the cans that are used in Scotland are reprocessed.
- Up to 95% less energy is used every time a used drinks can or a piece of foil is recycled into new cans.
- Aluminium and steel can be recycled over and over again - and the more we recycle, the less ore we have to mine!
- Every recycled can saves enough energy to run a TV for three hours.
- It takes only 60 days from start to finish to produce new cans from old.
Why recycle glass?
One of the many virtues of glass is that the material is theoretically "infinitely recyclable". Recycling our bottles and jars is a way we can ALL make a positive contribution to the environment. It also takes less energy to recycle glass than to melt down the original raw materials.
Business glass recycling
ACE has been providing cost effective glass recycling services for the community and businesses for almost a decade. For many of the businesses that we provide a service for glass forms one of the major components of their waste and so recycling provides significant savings on commercial waste charges. For pubs, restaurants and hotels recycling glass and cardboard can remove up to 75% of the waste generated that would have otherwise ended up going to costly landfill..
Why recycle textiles?
There is still a vast amount of clothing and other textiles ending up in landfill. Textile recycling helps create jobs both in this country and abroad. Once the clothes reach other countries lorry drivers, tailors, cobblers, stallholders and many others ensure that the clothes are utilised effectively.
