The Problem

Comet is one of the largest electrical retailers in the UK with over 300 sites Nationally. They contacted Severnside Recycling, as they were looking to employ a facilities management company to handle all their waste arisings.

At the time they had a system in place to back haul all their recyclate material to four Regional Distribution Centers (RDC's). This material was made up of 60% Expanded Polystyrene, 25% Cardboard, 5% Paper, 3% Plastic and 2% wood. The remaining 5% of waste on each individual site was disposed of through waste containers to Landfill.

Each RDC had 12 people working on the sorting of this material, as it was returned, in groups of four on 8-hour shift patterns.

80% of the volume was returned from 15 Home Delivery Platforms on a daily basis, with the remaining 20% collected from stores on a weekly basis.

In the main most of the material from the Home Delivery Platforms was being captured, but due to the infrequency of collections from stores, not all recyclable material was being captured and was in-fact finding its way into the general waste stream and increasing the volume going to landfill.

The Analysis

Severnside visited a number of each of the different types of sites and conducted an audit of the current waste handling and disposal systems.

In each of the Home Delivery Platforms it was found that all material was being returned to the RDC on a daily basis, the material however was not being segregated prior to it being returned to the RDC, neither was it being flat packed or bagged to reduce volume. This would then, on arrival at the RDC, be quickly sorted into grades before being baled or condensified. The problem was that the material was not being sorted and this was having a knock on effect to the value of the material as contaminated loads were being rejected and value in the material was being lost.

In each of the stores the material was being segregated, but due to the infrequency of collections some material was being thrown into the general waste to tidy up the storeroom- they could not wait until the material was collected.

In some locations the service levels for waste collections was not always right. This then increased the work load in the customer services department as they had to organise extra collections and new containers etc.

The Solution

Severnside were able to, through its audit process, identify a system that fitted in with the company objectives of Comet.

Severnside implemented a system that allowed the reverse haul of the material from the Home Delivery Platforms to be stopped. This material would now be collected on 17.5 tonne box vans, utilising Severnside's Confidential Services Collection fleet. This material could then be segregated and sorted by Severnside personnel at one of our strategically placed Recycling Facilities.

For the stores, a continuous monitoring programme that checked waste volumes and number of collections, was put in place. By utilising the services of our Customer Care Centre we were also able to put the right contractor in the right location giving a far more effective service level.

The Benefits

· Increased awareness of recycling amongst all staff- due to local collections and frequent visits from Recycling Advisors

· The new system allowed for the RDC to re-deploy the staff tied up in sorting material onto different projects

· The new system allowed for the RDC to free up space previously taken up by waste material

· The new system also allowed the vehicles to reverse haul products rather than waste and prevent the need for separate vehicles

· Comet gain maximum benefit from the recyclate value as contamination issues have been overcome

· More material can be extracted from the waste stream with continuous monitoring, thus reducing landfill cost and increasing revenue from material

· A reliable weekly collection- the correct amount of wheelie bins were provided to account for the amount generated each week

· A quality assured service and a dedicated customer care line meant that extra collections could be arranged within 24 hours.