In February 2011 the Waste (England and Wales) Regulations introduced the legal requirement for organisations to apply the waste hierarchy when dealing with waste. This means organisations must take all reasonable steps to prevent and reduce waste, and where waste does arise demonstrate that they have dealt with it in the most environmentally friendly way possible. At the top of this hierarchy is waste prevention.
Scotland has announced a landfill ban on municipal biodegradable waste from 2021 as part of the Zero Waste Regulations. This is the first ban of its kind in the UK and could lead to other countries following suit. If this happens will you be ready?
What is waste prevention?
Waste prevention focuses on reducing the amount of waste that you generate at source. It involves looking at your manufacturing, processing, packaging, storage, recycling and disposal processes to identify opportunities to manage waste, and minimise its impact on the environment.
Typical activities involved in waste prevention include:
- site visits
- mapping packaging and product wastes to inform and develop good practice
- developing recommendations and strategies for prevention, recovery and reuse
What are the benefits of waste prevention?
- on-going cost savings
- increased resource efficiency
- improved environmental credentials
- identify costly environmental hotspots
- additional marketing tool which can be used when bidding for tenders/new customers
How Valpak can help
We have considerable knowledge and skills in undertaking waste prevention and diversion reviews, particularly in the food and drink sector.
We offer a wide range of services in this area including:
- waste prevention and diversion reviews
- zero waste audits
- zero waste accreditation
- assessing available markets and routes for materials
- production of waste prevention strategies
- cost benefit analysis of increase waste diversion levels
To find out more about waste prevention, contact us today on 03450 682 572 or complete our enquiry form.