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Cups going green

Posted on by Sally

The Paper Cup Company is working with Green Earth Appeal to offset their carbon footprint produced by manufacturing paper cups by planting a single tree for every 1,000 printed cups sold.  The Green Earth Appeal is one of only 48 tree planting partners to the United Nations Environment Programme.

The Paper Cup Company produce printed paper cups for the UK and across the globe. The Green Cup is a single wall hot cup, made from high quality material. For just 99p per 1000 cups, the Green Earth Appeal will plant a single tree which will replace the paper used in the manufacturing of the printed cups. The customer will then receive a certificate showing how many trees have been planted to offset their carbon footprint. They can also use the Green Earth Appeal branding (as well as the Save-a-Cup logo) on their paper cups, which will show their own customers that they are being a responsible company. The Paper Cup Company began supporting Green Earth Appeal’s plant a tree scheme in April 2011.

Mark Woodward, Sales Director at The Paper Cup Company commented, “We are all very excited to be able to offer this to our customers and give something back to the environment. We look forward to rolling it out across all of our UK based customers in the coming year.

Recycle old coffee grounds for fertilizer

Posted on by Sally

The Detroit giant General Motors is making some interesting moves on clean  energy investment and waste diversion.

GM employees, led by its manager of waste  reduction John  Bradburn are doing their part to divert waste from landfill. Bradburn and  one of the groups within GM’s Warren Tech Centre are taking coffee grounds out  of the office and back home to their gardens. The coffee grounds alone add up to  about 3000 pounds not sent to waste dumps annually.

Coffee grounds are rich in nitrogen, phosphorus and other nutrients - your leftovers  from your morning cup of java can help plants thrive. Old coffee grounds are  great for vegetable gardens and are especially suited for crops that need acidic  soil. If you are trying to keep pests, rodents and  neighbourhood cats out of the garden, the coffee smell may repel them.  Home growing kit fanatics will find that the grounds are also a great bed  for mushrooms.

For Bradburn and his fellow gardening aficionados in Warren, their effort to  remove about 20 gallons of coffee grounds a week from the office is just one  example of how professionals at even small companies can take steps towards a  more sustainable business.

 

Every Can Counts for 51m cans recycled in 2001

Posted on by Sally

Every Can Counts, the away from home drinks can recycling programme, has revealed that it helped collect 51 million used beverage cans from workplaces and ‘on the go’ locations across the UK in 2011. This equates to 774 tonnes of aluminium and steel collected and around 5,800 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions saved as a result of the programme.

Every Can Counts, which is funded by a partnership comprising UK and European drinks can manufacturers, the aluminium and steel packaging and recycling industries, and energy drinks brand Red Bull, announced the results to mark the third anniversary of the programme’s launch.

Around 30% of the 9.5 billion cans sold every year are consumed outside the home; mainly in workplaces and whilst ‘on the go’, so they do not get picked up for recycling through local authority collections for domestic waste.  Every Can Counts addresses this gap by helping organisations to set up and promote recycling schemes to staff and customers.  Results from participating organisations also show that, although the programme targets drinks cans, volumes of other recyclables increase as a result of using Every Can Counts branded resources.

On average each employee at workplaces registered with the programme recycled five cans per month, which represents a year on year increase in workplace recycling performance of 25 percent. The programme has also developed a viable model for drinks can recycling at outdoor events. Around 1 million drinks cans, which equates to nearly 15 tonnes of aluminium and steel, were collected by Every Can Counts across ten music festivals in 2011. To date, nearly 700 organisations around the UK are registered with the programme, with almost 5,000 Every Can Counts branded collection points at over 1,900 individual sites.

With a name and brand identity that works well in any language, the Every Can Counts programme has also now been successfully replicated in France, Austria, Romania and Hungary, with more European markets looking to follow suit.

 

Selecta scoops award for environmental best practice

Posted on by Sally

Selecta UK & Ireland Ltd. has been honoured for its long-term commitment to the environment and a strong focus on sustainability.

The company has been presented with the “Business & the Environment Best Practice Award for Food and Drink” by Decision Magazine, which is circulated to senior management from medium to large companies in the central south of England.

The award was made following input from 12 representative organisations and academics who identified companies that are leading the way in terms of environmental policy.  Some 5,000 companies were initially considered before being shortlisted based on strict criteria that included the company illustrating: environmental responsibility is an intrinsic part of company culture; a desire to set benchmark standards rather than being driven by legislative demands; continuity in environmental responsibility and illustrating environmental protocols are in place, such as the ISO4001.

Customer research and an in-depth consultation was then carried out and resulted in Selecta emerging victorious in the southern England category.

Light bulb recycling reverse vending machine

Posted on by Sally

The  reVend Light Bulb Recycling Reverse Vending machine accepts all domestic light  bulbs. Each participating light bulb is recognised by the latest video recognition technology.

The recycler  is guided through the simple process by an easy to follow touch screen menu.The user  receives a reward incentive voucher, automatically dispensed by the machine.The touch  screen enables the user to choose from a large selection of different rewards,  including the opportunity to donate to charity.

The recycling data of every light bulb received is transmitted to the secure central database, to enable for the first time real  recovery and recycling statistics.

The reVend light bulb recycling machines automatically  send a text or email when the secure light bulb storage container is nearly  full and needs to be emptied.

Green features on site at PepsiCo’s UK distribution centre

Posted on by Sally

PepsiCo has invested £9.3m to expand its UK distribution centre at Peterlee. The investment will enable PepsiCo to triple the size of its storage facility where it houses UK brands Quaker Oats and Walkers Crisps.  The new site will enable them to take approximately 600,000km off the road each year by reducing delivery fleet distances.

A number of ‘green features’ have also been introduced on-​site, including a 100% rainwater harvested fleet vehicle wash, energy efficient cranes, low heating requirements and need-​activated lighting, all of which form part of the company’s path to zero pledge.  To minimise the building’s environmental footprint, 99% of the construction waste has been recycled.

For instance, packaging from the new, energy efficient cranes has been used to create on-​site allotments for employees to grow their own fruit and vegetables. These allotments will help the Peterlee site maintain its zero waste to landfill status by using all organic waste from the on-​site canteen for composting.

 

Crane raises the Green Bar

Posted on by Sally

Equipment manufacturer, Crane Merchandising Systems, has announced another industry first: CarbonNeutral vending machines.

Crane has a simple environmental goal:  it strives to ensure that every new vending machine it brings to market is more environmentally friendly than its predecessor, both in the way the machine is manufactured and in the way it operates.  As part of Crane’s ongoing efforts to be responsible stewards of the environment, the company is pleased to announce that all new machines are available with a CarbonNeutral option.

The CarbonNeutral option allows for the offset of the unavoidable emissions of operating vending machines, whether it be from the electrical consumption of the machine itself or the travel required to the machines for filling, servicing, and so on.  The purchasing of carbon offsets goes to finance projects elsewhere in the world that recapture an equal amount of carbon, a process that otherwise wouldn’t be financially viable or possible without the purchase of the offsets.

The CarbonNeutral option follows other environmental developments from Crane, including power saving software, and A++ EVA EMP ratings on both the BevMax cold drink and Merchant snack machines.  When you combine these existing environmental initiatives with the CarbonNeutral option now available from Crane, the company is confident there is no greener option available on the market today.

Reverse Vending Machines make recycling easier

Posted on by Sally

Very often people want to recycle but aren’t sure how. This area of untapped  recycling potential is a business opportunity that many companies are  jumping in to fill. For example, what are you supposed to do  with fluorescent light bulbs? CFLs are widely encouraged as a  replacement for incandescent light-bulbs but, they do contain small amounts of mercury.

Things like batteries and CFLs should not be thrown away  with household hazardous waste (HHW) but many consumers don’t know what  they should be doing instead. This is what UK company reVend hopes to change – they are the first company in the world that specialises in  supplying “reverse vending machine systems, installation, material recovery and  recycling through their experienced management team in RV technology, recycling  and waste management.”

What all this means is very simple: when you put your CFL into a big slot in  the vending machine, a video camera fitted inside identifies the bulb so it can  be sorted, and then you receive a voucher for a free cup of coffee. Swapping an  old CFL for a cup of coffee sounds like a good deal! In addition to  recycling, reVend also provides regular maintenance services for their machines.  The machine also comes with an extractor filter to capture any mercury vapour in  case of accidental breakage of a light bulb.

Eden Springs UK launches new environmental research

Posted on by Sally

Eden Springs, a UK supplier of water coolers and office beverage solutions, has launched new interactive functionality on their website to explore how the company are leading the industry in sustainability efforts.

The UK operations of Eden Springs were officially certified as CarbonNeutral in 2011 – becoming the first water cooler company in the UK to achieve this based on a full life cycle assessment. All aspects of the business were analysed and improved, from transport, production and equipment through to behaviour within the workplace.

The company worked with Swiss experts Quantis International, a recognised leader in this field, to research the environmental impact of the water cooler business, discovering how the efforts of Eden and their customers have helped to reduce the carbon footprint of hydrating the UK’s workforce.

The online resources provide customers and the public with guidance on the carbon footprint of water, with analysis revealing water from an Eden Springs bottled water cooler results in 36% less kCO2/​litre emissions compared to making a standard cup of hot tea (based upon a full life cycle).

Eden Springs UK managing director, Jean-​Marc Bolinger, said: “We take great pride as a company that we have taken this lead in the industry, and it helps us define our position as market leaders. We are proud that through our own initiative we have set a benchmark for a new industry standard in environmental practices.”

Coffee cup idea that focuses on reducing waste

Posted on by Sally

“Compleat” cups reinvent the disposable  coffee cup by eliminating the need for plastic lids. An all-paper design that  folds over on the top to create a top, Compleat reduces waste and provides an  additional space on top for branding and messaging that traditional to-go cups  lack. Designer Peter Herman made Compleat to be easily adoptable by businesses  and consumers, even the hard-core eco crowd.