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waste management

The secrets of building eco-friendly construction

With environmentally friendly, recycle and green energy becoming a priority across the entire world, it’s no wonder that more and more architects and construction specialists are focusing on introducing eco-friendly building designs. Buildings are getting designed in a manner that considers their environmental impact from the start, and even the

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Introducing your waste management strategy as a business

A challenge faced by a lot of business owners is being able to effectively manage waste — whilst saving costs by doing so. We’ve teamed up with Reconomy, the UK’s leading outsourced waste management provider of 8 yard skip hire services, to find out how your business can save on

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London Irish Squad Star in Skip Kick Shootout

The players at London Irish faced their biggest challenge yet when their principal sponsor, waste management company Powerday, brought a selection of skips, some healthy competition and just one question to the pitch: who would come out on top in the Rugby Kick Challenge? On a sunny July day at

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Latest Issue

BDC 319 : Aug 2024

waste management

The secrets of building eco-friendly construction

With environmentally friendly, recycle and green energy becoming a priority across the entire world, it’s no wonder that more and more architects and construction specialists are focusing on introducing eco-friendly building designs. Buildings are getting designed in a manner that considers their environmental impact from the start, and even the way they’re constructed places a distinct focus on eco-friendliness and sustainability. The way in which these buildings deal with their waste during their construction is hugely important, and that is why more and more buildings are utilising skip hire in Northampton and the rest of the UK which focuses on ethical and environmentally-friendly waste removal. The secrets behind Eco-Friendly Building Construction Green Waste Removal – Even though all your efforts to reduce as much waste as possible during a construction project is great for helping the environment and reduce costs, there will always be waste created from the process. When it comes to removing the waste from your building project in anywhere across the UK, you need to ensure that you are using ethical waste removal and disposal service. That is why you need to find a skip hire company that does its best to recycle as much of the waste it receives as possible and can offer extremely high rates of recycling success.   Alternative Energy Solutions – Modern buildings today, tend to have solar panels directly included into their design as a clean and renewable energy source. They utilise the natural energy provided by the sun and can not only work to reduce the environmental impact of a building’s design but can even provide decreased energy bills over the building’s lifetime. There are several government grants, incentives and tax breaks which a huge bonus to those buildings can also be which include solar power in their designs.   Using Sustainable Buildings Materials – If you’re aiming to construct a green building, then it’s a no-brainer to use environmental construction materials. Each and every part of your building needs to use responsibly made and eco-friendly components, from the roofing material to the insulation you choose, the materials chosen can have a major effect on the overall sustainability of your building. Popular eco-friendly building materials include reclaimed timber, recycled plastics, recycled glass and other natural building products such as bamboo, cork and linoleum made of renewable materials.   Energy Efficient Windows – Double-glazed windows can be extremely effective when to comes to a building’s insulation properties and drastically reduce costs from heating over the building’s lifetime. This also makes complete financial sense, as any additional costs incurred by installing double-glazed windows is overturned by the savings that these windows will provide in the long run. In summary, these points suggest that Britain is going in the right direction and when considering an environmentally friendly construction project, then you need to plan the most effective strategy to manage your waste, with the help of an expert.  

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Introducing your waste management strategy as a business

A challenge faced by a lot of business owners is being able to effectively manage waste — whilst saving costs by doing so. We’ve teamed up with Reconomy, the UK’s leading outsourced waste management provider of 8 yard skip hire services, to find out how your business can save on expenses: The amount of waste businesses dispose of can cost up to 4-5% of their overall turnover, according to the CIPS — this can rise to 10% in more detrimental circumstances. If businesses are not putting one foot forward to reduce their waste disposal spend — it will soon become a more prioritised concern. With rising landfill taxes, as well as recycling and sustainability becoming a main concern within ethical business principles, creating a reliable waste management solution is more important than ever for any forward-thinking business that is looking to make a change. The duty of care Under British law, businesses in the UK have a duty of care and a responsibility to dispose of their waste using the most appropriate methods. The requirements that you should meet are broadly as follows: Adopt the Waste Hierarchy principles in order to keep waste to a minimum by preventing, reusing, recycling, and recovering waste where possible. Store or sort waste securely in a safe environment. Complete a waste transfer note for each load of waste that leaves the premises. Check to establish whether your waste carrier is registered. This can be done by visiting the official Environment Agency Do not let your waste carrier dispose of waste illegally. As a producer of waste, the legal responsibility for safe and correct disposal falls on you, and not the waste carrier. You have a responsibility to ensure safe disposal through an auditable document trail. Storing waste in a secure location Businesses should follow our simple steps to ensure that their waste is secured safely: Use suitable and EU-approved containers to prevent leakage. Label containers in a way which clearly stipulates what type of waste they contain. Use waterproof covers — where appropriate — so that no contaminated run-offs are created. Use lockable containers to safeguard your waste. Removing the waste In order to have non-hazardous waste removed from your business site, a waste transfer note must be completed — an alternative can be a document that contains the same information, such as an invoice. It’s important to register with the correct services to complete a waste transfer note — if you plan to have waste removed multiple times, you can create a series ticket. Regarding the waste transfer note, your business and the organisation that collects your waste should: Fill in the sections of the note that applies to them. Sign it. Keep a copy for two years. Be able to present it to an enforcement officer from the local council or the Environment Agency, if requested. Lowering the cost of waste disposal After initially seeing the costs of waste disposal, businesses soon look to the best methods of reducing future costs. However, this can be a leap in the dark if business owners are uncertain of how to do this effectively. The way forward for a business is waste segregation — but to ensure it works, it must be monitored closely to allow you to create a report to see the volume and cost of waste from your business. From this you can set your strategy, highlighting your own targets and goals to ensure the best results possible when it comes to disposal. Technically, environmentally and economically practicable (TEEP) is something that businesses should know about. This determines whether a business should segregate and store various types of produced waste within the business premises prior to its collection by a waste management contractor you have teamed up with. Although Britain is set to leave the European Union, legislation that was put forward in 2015 states that commercial and municipal waste generators are obliged to manage the disposal correctly. They can use a third party to achieve this, but businesses will continue to remain responsible. The reason businesses may need to split their waste into different areas is to do with the environment — will this have created a benefit or reduce a negative that already exists? The overall waste disposal Automated systems have been introduced to help businesses across the country reduce their spend — whilst also giving them a greater insight of their entire waste plan. Through waste management portals, each business can have tailored permissions that help provide them with an overview of waste statistics and management information. If you would like to evaluate the amount of waste your business produced internally, start by visually assessing how much is disposed on a regular basis (it might be a good idea to begin when your bins are empty, then see how much space you use). It will allow businesses to have a greater insight if they reduce the amount of waste collections — giving them more of a challenge to save on waste and save the business money overall. They will have to deal with the limited bin space they have for waste ensuring that every decision is important. Carrying out these evaluations are vital for businesses to save money, especially with the landfill tax on the rise. The landfill tax price is set to rise further to £88.95 from the 1st of April 2018. With the cost of landfill waste rising year or year, it’s clear that businesses need to ensure that their waste solution system is driven towards recyclable methods to keep the costs of landfill waste to a minimum. Sources https://www.gov.uk/managing-your-waste-an-overview/your-responsibilities https://www.gov.uk/managing-your-waste-an-overview/sorting-storing-waste https://www.gov.uk/managing-your-waste-an-overview/waste-transfer-notes https://www.nibusinessinfo.co.uk/content/advantages-and-disadvantages-recycling-business-waste https://www.cawleys.co.uk/teep-waste-legislation/ https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/69403/pb13530-waste-hierarchy-guidance.pdf https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/environment-agency https://www.business.qld.gov.au/running-business/environment/waste-tips https://www.cips.org/Documents/About%20CIPS/Develop%20Waste%20v3%20-%2020.11.07.pdf http://www.letsrecycle.com/prices/efw-landfill-rdf-2/ http://www.letsrecycle.com/news/latest-news/waste-sector-creates-6-8bn-uk-defra-claims/ https://www.reconomy.com/portal#benefits

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London Irish Squad Star in Skip Kick Shootout

The players at London Irish faced their biggest challenge yet when their principal sponsor, waste management company Powerday, brought a selection of skips, some healthy competition and just one question to the pitch: who would come out on top in the Rugby Kick Challenge? On a sunny July day at Hazelwood, the Exiles stepped up to an out-of-the ordinary training challenge to see who could earn the highest score by kicking rugby balls into different sized skips and bins. The rules were simple: each player had three shots to get the ball in one of six targets. The smaller the skip, the higher the score; so would they risk it all to hit that magic 100-pointer wheelie bin, or play it safe by aiming for larger, less valuable goals? One by one, the boys attempted to dropkick their way to the top of the leaderboards. Curious to see who was the most accurate on the day? Follow the action one kick at a time in the full competition video here – https://www.powerday.co.uk/news/london-irish-rugby-kick-challenge/ After the final scores were tallied, Powerday took the challenge online, asking fans if they could beat the pros at their own game with the official Rugby Kick Challenge game! Whether you’re on your phone, tablet, laptop or PC, you can choose your favourite London Irish stars to see how well you can do with just ten kicks of the ball and three targets to aim for. Shoot for the golden skip for maximum points, then share your top score for ultimate bragging rights. Will you be able to kick the perfect game? Visit the Powerday website and Play the Rugby Kick Challenge today to find out. See here – https://www.powerday.co.uk/rugby-kick-challenge/    

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