Award in recognition of environmental performance

RPC Superfos Blackburn in the United Kingdom has just received a Greener Path Award for achieving ‘Zero Waste to Landfill’ in 2015. This brilliant result was achieved within 15 months.

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RPC Superfos Blackburn has fully optimised the diversion of landfill in 2015 and has demonstrated clear further commitment towards the goal of ‘Zero Landfill’. For this remarkable milestone reached in partnership with ACM Environmental, RPC Superfos Blackburn has now received a Greener Path Award.

ACM Environmental is a waste management company offering total waste management solutions throughout the United Kingdom and is behind the Greener Path Awards in association with the British Council for Sustainable Development.

From 85 to 0 per cent
Prior to the start of the waste management project at RPC Superfos Blackburn in October 2013, over 85 per cent of the waste from the site was disposed of via landfill, being equivalent to more than 350 tonnes.  By the end of 2014, RPC Superfos Blackburn achieved 0 per cent landfill and has continued to successfully use alternative and less expensive disposal methods for all of the waste from site. A key to the success was to employ different waste processing methods.

Matthew Bulcock, Logistics Manager, at RPC Superfos Blackburn, has spearheaded the successful change in the waste management. He is delighted to receive the recognition in form of the ‘Zero Waste to Landfill Award’:

“Winning the award is highly satisfying and I would like to thank ACM Environmental, as well as staff and managers at RPC Superfos Blackburn who contributed to the achievement. However, the award does not make us stop working on our waste management. On the contrary, some of our more challenging waste streams are still being reviewed regularly,” he says.

Creating a change in attitude
According to Matthew Bulcock, the communication with people is one of the biggest challenges in the process. First, everyone must understand the consequences of poor waste management and then they will be able to change attitude and behaviour and take waste disposal seriously.

“Waste management is often underestimated. In fact, it is a challenging area of our business which demands substantial efforts to control and get right. We need to ensure that the correct items are disposed of in the correct bins – this may sound easy, but it is not,” he adds.

Developing a culture of sustainability
One method employed at RPC Superfos Blackburn was to reduce the number of different waste types to choose from making it easier to remember all the different waste types.

“Even now, we still do not always get it 100% right, but we have come a long way since we started. To be successful, the approach to waste management needs to be along the same lines as the attitude to Health and Safety. We are on the right path – a greener path - to adopt a culture of sustainability where employees think before they act,” Matthew Bulcock points out.

Unmanaged waste is expensive
ACM Environmental has enjoyed helping RPC Superfos Blackburn to reduce the impact the business has on the environment while cutting costs.

Andy Jacobs, Chief Executive of ACM Environmental says:

“We are delighted that RPC Superfos Blackburn is a recipient of the Zero Waste to Landfill Award.  We have worked in partnership with them to help implement an environmentally-sound waste management strategy and to see them achieve such impressive landfill diversion results is extremely gratifying.”

Waste management can easily become a very expensive business area if left unmanaged. As in other countries, British legislation and disposal taxes regularly change, so the results in waste management do not only contribute to a better environment; they are also keeping expenses down.