We’d like to thank everyone in Westminster who recycled last December. Not only was it a record month for the tonnage of recycling the City Council collected but we also noticed businesses making the effort to recycle more efficiently.
December is a month when most businesses produce a lot of extra waste. Despite all this extra waste, we saw an amazing 20% increase in recycling rates which highlights that Westminster businesses are doing more than ever to recycle more and reduce their environmental impact.
Commercial Waste Services (CWS) is very proud of its customers and the effort they made to recycle more and recycle better. Continue reading to find out exactly how well you all did…
Facts and figures from last month
Glass recycling
CWS saw a 35% increase in segregated glass collected compared to December 2021. This glass was sent for reprocessing to create new packaging glass.
| The CO2 saving from recycling this glass is equivalent to 948 passengers making a return flight from London to New York City. |
Food waste recycling
Food waste collected from businesses increased by 66%. All of this extra food waste produced over the festive period was turned into biogas and fertiliser for agricultural land.
| The fertiliser produced from this volume of food waste is enough to help grow wheat for the production of 89,707 loaves of bread. |
Paper and cardboard recycling
We saw a 4% increase in the tonnage of paper and cardboard that was collected compared to 2021. This material is of very high quality and goes directly to a recycling mill in Kent where it is turned back into new paper.
| The amount of paper and cardboard recycled saved 2873 trees from being cut down to produce new paper and enough energy to power 172 average British households for a year. |
General waste
Whatever is recycled does not have to be incinerated as general waste. We do put general waste to good use, however. It is used as fuel at SELCHP to generate electricity for the London grid and a local district heating network. Some of this electricity is also used to power our electric collection vehicles.
| December’s general waste generated enough power for roasting 824,863 turkey dinners or power 3731 average British households for a year. |
How can you recycle even more in 2023?
We hope that by working together with our customers in 2023 we can do even better next December. A good place to start would be by booking a waste audit. A no-obligation waste audit is where we survey and assess your existing waste management setup and make recommendations to improve recycling.
By improving your recycling rate you can expect to see a reduced carbon footprint which will help you doing your bit to achieve Net Zero. Recycling more will also help reduce how much you spend on managing your waste. Click the link below to book your waste audit.
