British Waterways
Key Project / Contract Name: 
British Waterways Marinas
Description:
National Waste Management (collection/treatment)
Location/s: 16 Sites UK Wide
Services supplied: Nationwide Services, Segregated Collections, Treatment/Recycling
Waste Streams: Confidential Waste, General waste, Glass, Mixed recycling, WEEE.
Containers: RELs, FELs, ROROs, Skips
Overview:
British Waterways is the public corporation that cares for the 2,200-mile network of canals and rivers in England, Scotland and Wales. Their role is to ensure that the waterways can be used for all to enjoy, now and for many years to come. Their biggest work commitment is to maintain and improve the country’s waterways, whilst providing good customer service.
It is a challenging task to look after waterways which stretch across 2,200 miles (3,540km), many of which are over 200-years-old. Structures are constantly exposed to the effects of the climate (which in recent years have included flash floods and droughts). They cross major roads, making them prone to accidental vehicle damage, and of course they have to bear the wear and tear of around 13 million visitors every year. Combined, this has a significant and sometimes unpredictable effect on our maintenance programme and costs.
These conditions have meant that the two most important aspects of their waste management service were cost efficiency and reliability.
Consultation:
Wastecycle were given the opportunity to review and present to the British Waterways Marinas at a time when they were experiencing dissatisfactory service from their incumbent supplier. Wastecycle demonstrated how our philosophy on waste management and accreditation process to select similar responsible recyclers across the UK could improve their environmental performance whilst also being cost effective and sustainable.
The consultation process involved a key account manager working closely with several British Waterway’s staff to compile a like-for-like service list and implementation schedule to ensure a continuation of service across the UK with minimum disruption to staff. As a result, the contract handover passed smoothly with no serious issues or problems
Wastecycle was required to achieve an Achilles accreditation in order to be awarded the contract. As a result, Wastecycle invested in the Achilles audit and scored highly further demonstrating the built in benefits that our focus on delivering a safe and efficient service have relative to SHE concerns.
Improvements made:
- Same services delivered at a reduced cost
- Higher recycling performance on mixed waste treatment
- Complete waste management services available
- Speedy turnaround of reactive requests
- Easy to access waste management reporting for all sites and services
Future plans:
Wastecycle have given a presentation to British Waterways showing how increasing on-site segregation of recyclables through the use of separate collection points internally and externally can generate greater cost savings and improved environmental performance. These recycling opportunities will play a part in their on-going objective of delivering a lower carbon footprint and guarantee continued savings year on year.