News & Views

The National Recycling Awards 2021

On Thursday night our team attended the National Recycling Awards with representatives from Marston’s, Prezzo and Birmingham Airport. Our sustainability strategies and solutions were clearly recognised by the judges as our partnerships were shortlisted a phenomenal six times. 

The National Recycling Awards, run by Materials Recycling World, are regarded as one of the most prestigious awards in the industry’s calendar and this year the ceremony took place at the Hilton hotel in Mayfair, London. These awards are testament to the challenging work and dedication of our Innovation Consultants and Sustainability Managers who have supported many of our clients to deliver amazing sustainability solutions amid the pandemic. 

Recycling Excellence – Commercial

All three clients were all shortlisted in this category. Here’s some of the highlights from their nominations:

Marston’s took over the management of the SA Brains pubs Marston’s have seen implemented solutions that have increased recycling rates to a whopping 76%, general waste has reduced by circa 600 tonnes p.a. and NO WASTE IS SENT TO LANDFILL. 

Prezzo have been on a three-year journey towards zero landfill and have been working to continuously improve their source segregation and recycling. Over the past year they’ve seen recycling rates peak at an eye watering 80% whilst our service partners also ensured than NO WASTE IS SENT TO LANDFILL. 

Birmingham Airport have spent the past two years creating and delivering solutions that address every level of the waste hierarchy. They’ve implements solutions to remove millions of single-use plastic bottles from their estate. They also reused abandoned luggage, bags, buggies and more to donating them to charities and other worthy causes. They’re believed to be the first UK airport to recycle both coffee cups and coffee grounds with the former being converted into heat logs which function as a substitute for fossil fuels. 

Partnership Excellence 

Again, all three clients were shortlisted in this category thanks to our joint attitude and approach to relationship management. Here’s some of the highlights from their nominations:

Marston’s worked with our sustainability team as we came out of lockdown to audit all SA Brains pubs to ensure we delivered MORE. By working together, we were able to remove circa 1,500 container collections p.a. from the estate and reduced the scope 3 carbon footprint for ‘waste disposal’ by circa 150 tonnes p.a.

Prezzo worked with many of our team at Novati to constantly address sites service specifications as we came out of lockdown and during the UK’s ‘Eat Out To Help Out’ campaign. Together, we also committed to ensuring that wherever possible, SME partners would deliver collections rather than national self-delivery providers. 

Birmingham Airports partnership with us has delivered fantastic results over the past 18 months. Our Sustainability Managers are on site for several days each month, engaging with staff, concession stalls and the public to ensure we minimise the impact our waste could have on the environment. With a focus on sustainability and innovation we’ve managed to redistribute several tonnes of surplus stock that was either unsellable due to the impact of the pandemic or had exceeded its ‘best-before’ date. This stock has all been donated to Unite4Homeless which is a local charity in the Birmingham area. 

A huge congratulations to all three clients for being recognised for your sector leading environment credentials. It’s a fantastic achievement and we’re excited to see what we can do in 2022 with you all to drive the sustainability agenda even further forwards.