UPL is committed to improving the environment

UPL has a long-term commitment to improving the environment and in 2010 we introduced a comprehensive recycling review. At that time the ratio between waste product that was sent to landfill and waste that was being recycled was 41% recycled and 59% sent to landfill.

Since then we have analysed all aspects of the business to identify the different recycling waste streams that could be introduced to reduce the amount of waste being sent to landfill, and we now have a wide range of recycling initiatives and programmes in place to address the separate waste areas.

 

Electrical equipment – we were already using a Weee compliant container for redundant computers, but this has now been increased to include all electrical waste so that it can also be recycled.

Cardboard – we have purchased some specialised cages that are strategically located around the premises so that all waste cardboard can be put into these cages before transfer to a cardboard skip. This then goes on to be recycled.

Metal items – a special Metal Skip has been installed to keep metal items separated for recycling.

General waste – this was being put into a skip that was being collected 4 times per week and driven several miles to the landfill site. To reduce this wasteful travel we installed a compactor skip that instantly reduced the collections to 2 per week. This effectively halved the travel distance for our general waste and further reduced our carbon footprint.

Plastic waste- two separate streams were identified:

• The first being plastic containers / closures etc. These items are now palletised either in their original packaging or boxed up and palletised if loose. These items are then collected by an external recycling company for processing.
• The second area is the plastic pallet wrap that is used to cover all our incoming pallets and the plastic bags that typically line the boxes containing bottles / tubes / closures. A bailer was purchased that enabled these items to be segregated, then bailed and sent for recycling.

Aluminium cans – specialised bins have been installed in the canteen for the cans to be separated and collected for recycling.

Specialist Waste – we have established a close relationship the company that collects the specialist waste which typically comprises of out of spec / out of date chemicals / bulk liquid and finished product. We have been working together to ensure that we recycle as much specialist waste as possible and the latest load analysis revealed that 64% is now being recycled into energy and composting, and the remaining 36% goes for treatment and then to landfill.

In summary, a year after the introduction of this recycling programme, UPL are now at the point where 73% of our total waste is recycled and the remaining 27% goes to landfill. This is a fantastic achievement, but we want to continue to improve upon this, so we intend to maintain the focus on this important area and our target is to achieve a recycling level of 85% by 2015.