A sustainable business needs to address four key issues; energy, waste, transport and water. Energy and transport have taken the limelight more recently, as stronger financial drivers and common Carbon equivalent measures have emerged. But there are still significant opportunities open to businesses to leverage financial, environmental and social benefits by adopting the 3R’s; reduce, reuse, recycle.

Defra’s 2011 waste review placed greater emphasis on business recycling; this should make it easier and cheaper for businesses to recycle more. Help is at hand through producer responsibility deals for the construction and hospitality sectors, service commitments for the waste industry and Local Authorities and a full Waste Prevention Programme to take effect by December 2013. With the likelihood of financial penalties moving ever closer, those businesses that fail to separate out recyclable wastes will be shocked into action. The future exclusion of wood, biodegradable wastes and textiles from landfill demonstrates the impetus across the sector.

There are many opportunities to:

Reduce – Audit your waste to identify where it can be reduced; the savings can be as much as £1000 per employee for SME’s*. You’ve paid for it once, don’t bin it and pay again

Re-use – retrader.org.uk is the on-line materials exchange for Oxfordshire, connecting producers with recipients. Download the new app for Android or iPhone.

Recycle – find a more cost effective way to recycle your paper, card, plastic etc… New recycling opportunities are emerging all the time; food recycling capacity in Oxfordshire is excellent, also solutions for hard plastics and mattresses are now being offered.

For more information on this topic and contact details please click here.

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*Some free waste audits and specialist advice is available to Oxfordshire SME’s. Many waste management firms can also provide this service at no extra cost, ask your existing supplier.