Is Suffolk County Council doing anything to reduce it's own
waste?
Yes, we are:
- recycling paper at over 100 of our sites
- recycling paper, cans, plastic and cardboard at Endeavour
House, Constantine House and St Edmund House in Ipswich
- introducing the same standard at our Bury St Edmunds and
Lowestoft sites
- encouraging best practice amongst our contractors and
sub-contractors in dealing with waste from construction
projects
- encouraging all staff to be aware of the
Green purchasing guidelines
- following the duty of care in relation to the waste we
generate
- investigating composting to reduce the amount of organic
material going to landfill
- raising awareness amongst staff, suppliers, contractors and
partners
It has been estimated that the 15,000 office based staff employed
by Suffolk County Council (excluding teachers) generate
approximately 1kg of waste per person per week. This equates to
just under 1000 tonnes per year. We monitor this waste on an
ongoing basis to see how we can improve our performance. The most
recent ‘waste audit’ at our Headquarters shows that we are
recycling almost 70% of our office waste, with only ‘residual
waste’ going to landfill:
48% Paper and
card 31% Residual
waste
17% Confidential waste
4% Plastic
If you would like any more information about corporate waste
minimisation, please contact Craig Renton at
Craig.Renton@suffolk.gov.uk
Recent Initiatives
- Kerrison training Centre are asking all visitors to the
conference centre to stick to the new "one cup for a day" policy.
Instead of throwing away a new plastic cup every single time that
they have a break, delegates are being asked to keep one and reuse
it – saving up to 25 tonnes of waste annually. Recycling facilities
for the cups have also been introduced.
- For everyone travelling along it, the A1094 to Aldeburgh might
look like any ordinary road: but 1,600 tonnes of old road surface
from the A12 at Great Glemham - and a further 1,800 tonnes of
material from the worn-out surface from the A1094 itself – were
reused when the road needed resurfacing recently. Not only did this
save a massive 3,400 tonnes of waste from landfill, but 300 lorry
movements were also avoided as there was no need to bring in new
aggregate from specialist quarries.