Business

Business Logo  Why should businesses reduce, reuse and recycle their waste?

Waste vehicles on a landfill site


There are fundamental business reasons, as well as environmental ones, for minimising waste:

  • A systematic waste minimisation programme could save 1% of turnover.
  • Every pound saved on material costs goes straight to the bottom line.
  • Average payback periods for such initiatives are measured in months, not years.
  • Savings of around £1,000 per employee are typically made through resource efficiency programmes.
  • Many waste minimisation measures cost nothing, but yield big results.
  • Customers increasingly favour environmentally friendly companies.
  • More and more businesses demand resource efficiency from their suppliers and partners.
  • Legislation, both in the UK and from Europe, is forcing us all to address the issue of waste. Non compliance means fines. Even prosecution.
  • Waste costs more than you may realise. When you consider the materials, the costs of treatment, energy and wasted labour, you'll find the real price tag on waste is often 5-20 times the cost of disposal.

 
For more business recycling facts and figures please check the Recycling facts.



Business LogoCan I take my business waste to the Household Waste Recycling Centres?


No, the Household Waste Recycling Centres are only licensed to accept household waste only.



Business LogoWhat resources are available for business recycling in Suffolk and the surrounding areas?

There are a number of resources in and around Suffolk that may aid businesses with their recycling initiatives:

Please note the listing is not exhaustive, further resources can be found in your local business telephone directory. 

For further details of your responsibility please visit http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/netregs/.


 

SCRRN

The Suffolk Community Reuse and Recycling Network exists to support, develop and promote new and existing community and voluntary sector organisations that are involved in composting, reuse and recycling activity in Suffolk.  See www.scrrn.org.uk


Eastex Suffolk Materials Exchange

Eastex is a FREE online service for businesses, organisations, societies and schools to help keep reuseable items in circulation and out of landfill. This online forum works on the concept that one organisations waste is another's raw material. It allows users to place adverts for items and materials that they available or for those that they require.

Anything that has a reuse value can be placed on this site and recent exchanges of items and materials in Suffolk to date include office furniture, wood and timber, paper and card, scaffold towers, computers, building materials, porta cabins, pallets and much more! Eastex offers a fantastic opportunity for businesses to improve their environmental performance and reduce waste disposal costs. It also helps Voluntary and Community Sector organisations and Social Enterprises source vital resources and create partnerships with businesses.

Eastex is an Eastern Region project funded by EEDA through the Business Resource Efficiency and Waste programme (BREW). The site had received over 2 million hits since it was launched in May 2006. In Suffolk, we are fully supported by Suffolk County and all District Councils, The Environment Agency, The Federation of Small Businesses and Business Link for Suffolk.
Please take a look at Eastex at www.eastex.org.uk/suffolk  and help spread the word of this FREE service. If you hear of items no longer wanted or destine for landfill please urge people, departments and organisations to consider utilising Eastex first.

Questions? Contact your Mark Webster on 01473 264782 or mark.webster2@et.suffolkcc.gov.uk

 

Aid to Hospitals Worldwide

Aid to Hospitals Worldwide refurbishes all kinds of used and redundant equipment that can be used by hospitals and schools. We take all kinds of servicable equipment that the NHS and private hospitals in the UK no longer need and send it to the developing world. Equipment in our hospitals soon gets outdated, but to hospitals in Africa and Eastern Europe, this equipment can save lives. A2HW cleans, refurbishes and packs equipment from our premises in Bury St Edmunds ready for shipping to hospitals and schools all over the world. We're careful where we send. We take every precaution to make sure these precious items end up benefiting the neediest people. No charge is made for any piece of equipment we supply, and we source items to order. A2HW links up with existing charities and organisations to arrange delivery. And you can help: by volunteering, offering equipment (such as IT or stacking chairs) or giving funds.

PO Box 603 Bury St Edmunds Suffolk UK IP33 9DF

0781 336 8396

 

Ipswich Furniture Project

The Ipswich Furniture Project is a charitable organisation that collects furniture items (that adhere to fire regulations) which they pass on to low-income families for a nominal charge.
The Project also collects redundant metal appliances e.g. fridges, and cookers that they then recycle for scrap metal.

Ipswich Furniture Project
Hogarth Road
Ipswich
Suffolk
Tel: (01473) 404004
Email: ipswichfp@aol.com
 

Suffolk Scrap Store

The project is a reuse/recycling scheme collecting waste items from the Ipswich area for use in art, craft and education by a vast number of schools and community based organisations.  All sorts of clean materials can be reused in this way.  Contact them at suffolkscrapstore@btconnect.com 

To discover many more ways that your business can reduce its environmental impact, visit www.greensuffolk.org/what_can_i_do/businesses