May 2024
Effective Waste Management
Have you ever thought about how much garbage and trash
there is in the World? How much is generated every day?
Where does it all go? Well around 2 billion tonnes of waste is
generated every year across the globe, this is expected to
grow by 70% over the next 30 years. Despite technologies
being available to recycle many items only around 20% of
waste generated avoids a landfill disposal route.
At Kent we have a duty of care responsibility to the
communities in which we work to minimise waste materials
generated by our business activity.
Effective waste management occurs when the principles of the
5 ‘R’s are embedded across our offices and projects.
1. Refuse – this involves identifying things that are not
necessary e.g. purchase of single use plastics or
purchasing items with less packaging.
2. Reduce – understand the importance of minimizing the
amount of waste generated by using fewer resources to
deliver what is actually required for the project.
3. Reuse – consider use of products that are more durable,
have a longer lifespan.
4. Repurpose – before disposal of a used item, think about
whether it can be turned into something else.
5. Recycle – by choosing products where the raw materials
can be recovered and turned into new products.
Safety and Sustainability
20240501 Environmental Bulletin
Effective Waste Management
So effective waste management starts with not generating
waste in the first place. Do try and follow the first 4 ‘Rs’ to
eliminate the generation of waste.
One way of achieving this is to implement “sustainable” or
“environmentally preferable” procurement in your office or
project.
Inevitably some waste will be generated however and then the
efforts must go into ensure maximum recycling of the waste.
To recycle effectively consideration must be given to the types
of waste generated at your location. These ‘Waste Streams’
should be identified (some examples below), then segregation
facilities provided to gather and store the waste until a
recognised, licenced organisation is engaged to dispose of the
waste in line with the laws of the country of operation.
As a ISO14001 certified company Kent has an obligation to
ensure not only that our waste is disposed of legally and in the
most responsible way but where we have clients/landlords and
subcontractors all managing waste generated by Kent activity
we must also monitor their waste management processes to
ensure they are as effective as ours by requesting copies of
their waste management companies licences to operate and
gain an understanding of the end destination of Kent
generated waste.
Further information is available by talking to your local HSSE
representative and through the direction and guidance within
the Kent Library such as the Office HSSE Directive, Green
Office Programme, Waste Management Directive and the
Supply Chain Policy.
Antony Alexander
HSSE Advisor