The highest volume of waste from our distribution business was spoil from excavation activities, with over 200,000 tonnes being sent to landfill each year. In addition, we used virgin aggregate to reinstate these excavations, resulting in the need for energy-intensive quarrying activity.

We’ve also formed a Reinstatement Innovations Working Group to continue to reduce the environmental impact of our distribution business excavation activities.

We’re trialling the use of recycled aggregates at our Gloucester Delivery Centre and in Coventry, resulting in the following benefits:

• 90% reduction in spoil to landfill
• Cost reduction of between 20% and 40%

We’re aiming to finalise the roll-out trial across as much of our distribution area as possible, eventually to a point where recycled aggregates are used as standard.

We awarded a contract to a social enterprise to recycle an estimated 1.5 million meters over the next three years.

Recycling Lives, a social enterprise based in Preston, helps ex-service personnel, marginalised and other vulnerable people by providing them with training, a job, and supported accommodation. This year, Recycling Lives won the Queen’s Award for Sustainable Development for their innovative approach.

In future, our old meters will be shipped to Recycling Lives at Preston where they are sorted, stripped down, batteries removed for recycling, and the remaining recyclable materials such as metal and plastics are shredded for re-sale.

Over the next three years the number of meters being replaced is expected to quadruple with the roll-out of smart meters, and the contract will provide a source of revenue from the recycled plastic and metal.

Diverting 1.5 million meters from landfill over a three-year period is equivalent to 1445 tonnes of waste, including metal, plastic, and glass.

Recycling this material will save the equivalent of over 3,000 tonnes of CO₂.

Our aim is to improve the power station’s waste performance in terms of both recycling rate and the way waste is managed on site. We’ve worked closely with waste and facilities management contractors to deliver improvements in their materials and waste profile. This has included:

• Diversifying waste management companies to save cost and transportation
• Ongoing improvements on the waste management audit process
• Investing in a roll crusher which minimises the volume of waste produced and which also limits the transport and disposal costs

The site environment team has overcome some significant challenges to make these improvements, which include:

• Ensuring the 1,800 people who can be working on site at any one time, are aware of the waste policy.

• Encouraging employees and contractors to segregate their waste
• Developing strong partnerships with contractors to improve their reporting and divert their waste from landfill.

In 2010 we reduced the total amount of non-operational waste from our business by 28% compared to 2009 and reduced the amount of waste to landfill by 36%. Some of the initiatives include:

• New efficient hand dryers at our larger sites – removing paper towels saves over 36 tonnes of waste going to landfill
• ‘Black-bag’ waste from six of our Nottingham sites is now diverted from landfill to energy from waste schemes
• New consistent signage is in place at all recycling points – helping to prevent contamination and including a ‘bin of last resort’ for landfill waste
• A plastic bottle and shrink wrap trial at a number of sites
• A ‘bottoms up’ campaign for plastic cups helping reduce contamination
• Use of biodegradable coffee cups in our restaurants
• 55 tonnes of food waste from 11 sites diverted from landfill to a biomass plant.

The benefits to our business are:

• £2.13 million saved
• Diversion from landfill 190,000 tonnes
• 10,000 tonnes CO₂ (equivalent) saved