Waste Management
Our operations create both hazardous and non-hazardous waste. The hazardous waste arises primarily from our bus maintenance activities and includes waste oil, interceptor waste, batteries, fluorescent tubes, oil filters and oily rags. Non-hazardous waste is a combination of waste arising at depots and that left by our passengers on the buses. We monitor both the waste arising and the proportion of waste recycled.
This year we cut our total waste arising by 9%. Non-hazardous waste reduced by 4% and interceptor waste by 17%. This positive improvement has been achieved in partnership with our waste management contractor. We have optimised the frequency of waste collections and adopted more efficient methods of interceptor cleaning. The amount of hazardous waste continues to rise, due partly to changes in maintenance procedures and legislative requirements for greater segregation.
We recycle around 89% of our hazardous waste and 24% of non-hazardous waste. Increasing the proportion of non-hazardous waste we recycle remains a challenge for us, in particular where the waste is generated by our passengers. However, we remain committed to both reducing the amount of waste we generate and improving our levels of recycling. To achieve this we will continue to build on best practice and work in partnership with our waste management contractor.
Waste Recycling at Halifax Depot - A Best Practice Example
Halifax Depot is an excellent example of best practice in waste recycling where 52% of non-hazardous waste is recycled compared to 24% across the division. The majority of the waste is inherited from cleaning the buses and the staff segregate the waste into plastic bottles, steel and aluminium drinks cans, paper, glass, plastic drinks cups and plastic bags. Over the last 12 months alone, this scheme has diverted 65 tonnes of waste away from landfill.
We continue to promote recycling of phones and cartridges. This year we raised nearly £4,000 for Forest of Dreams, an ecological charity set-up to purchase, manage and preserve land in North Wales as a sanctuary for wildlife and environmental bio-diversity.
We have a contract in place to dispose of our redundant IT equipment in line with the new regulatory framework. The company will refurbish and donate machines to charity where possible.