Waste Management
We currently monitor waste arising and the proportion of waste recycled from our depots at First Great Western and GB Railfreight's Peterborough depot. We have also monitored the waste arising at our major stations at First Great Western over two years, with the addition of major stations at First Capital Connect and First TransPennine Express this year.
Our ability to measure waste arising and the proportion recycled is strongly influenced by the nature of the waste management contracts that we inherit with each new franchise. We continue to centralise contracts where we have direct responsibility for waste disposal which will allow us to extend the scope of our waste reporting.
We monitor waste arising for depots and stations separately as we have more control over the waste arising at depots. At stations much of the waste we handle is on-board waste generated by our customers. The waste collected may be from services operated by other train operating companies as well as our own.
| Total Waste Arising at First Great Western Depots and GB Railfreight Peterborough Depot (tonnes) | |
|---|---|
| 2006/2007 | |
| Hazardous waste arising | 490 |
| Non-hazardous waste arising | 5030 |
| Total Waste Arising at Major Stations in First Great Western, First TransPennine Express and First Capital Connect | ||
|---|---|---|
| Total Tonnes of Waste Produced | Percentage Recycled | |
| Non-hazardous waste | 8,152 | 7% |
We currently recycle around 5% of our non-hazardous waste at depots and 7% at stations. Our recycling rates have remained relatively constant over the past year but we continue to look for ways of improving our segregation, reducing landfill disposal and boosting our recycling rates.
We continue to promote recycling of phones and cartridges. This year we raised nearly £4,000 for Forest of Dreams, an ecological charity that purchases, manages and preserves land in North Wales as a sanctuary for wildlife and environmental biodiversity.
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 provide machines to charity where possible.
Reducing Packaging Waste in Our Supply Chain
Working closely with Rail Gourmet we try to reduce the amount of packaging waste associated with our catering sales. Over the past 12 months we have achieved the following reductions in packaging waste:
- 25% less paper packaging;
- 7.5% less glass;
- 15.8% less aluminium;
- 0.2% les steel; and
- 7.8% less plastic.
We are now reviewing the options for card and compostable packaging alternatives for much of our plastic packaging and plastic cutlery. Rail Gourmet is committed to reducing its paper and cardboard waste by 25% over the next 12 months and will be conducting initial environmental audits of their suppliers.