Currently in the UK, we send over 15 million tonnes of waste
to the landfill every single year and, worryingly, we’re running out of space.
We now even send millions of tonnes overseas
to help
us keep our own landfills under control.
The long-lasting economic, environmental and societal impact
of overfilled landfills can be profound and long-lasting when examined through
a wider lens of global warming. As our planet warms as a result of greenhouse
gasses, sea levels are likely to continue rising. One of the more obvious risks
to humans and wildlife as a result of rising sea levels is mass flooding of
both our rural and urban areas.
Currently, there are around 5,000 historic landfills in the
UK on the coastline with inadequate linings and this coalescing of flooding and
exposed waste on our shores can be a real danger. If the waste in the landfill
is able to spread via floods, this can contaminate the water we drink, the
habitats of local wildlife, spread disease amongst humans and animals and
damage any surrounding farmland.
Even when separated from the risks of flooding, however,
landfills are an unsustainable and damaging system of waste collection. They
release methane into the atmosphere, can diminish the local soil quality, can
displace wildlife and there’s very little to be done once one is filled to
capacity.
With that in mind, it’s imperative for businesses and homeowners
to manage their waste responsibly. A key to achieving this is by hiring an
environmentally-conscious waste collection firm to handle all of the waste that
you produce. Some of these firms recycle as much as 95% of the waste they
manage. Here we detail some of the solutions they have to the problem of
landfill dependence.
How Skip Hire
Companies Can Assist the Green Homeowner
If you’re making home improvements, landscaping your garden
or moving property, a large amount of waste is an inevitable by-product. A lot
of this waste can be recycled and responsibly disposed of, however, it can
often be confusing to know the best way to do this if you’re not in the
industry. A waste collection company will have the professional knowledge and
equipment to take this pressure and responsibility from you.
Practically for you, hiring a firm to take care of the waste
will reduce the number of necessary journeys to the tip (which we all know can
be a huge pain in the neck!) Whether you need large or small skip hire, a waste
collection company will be able to deliver the machinery or skips that you
require, at a time that’s suitable and to a location of your choosing, so that
you have far less to think about.
Environmentally, many waste management companies will have the
facilities and industry know-how to ensure that everything you pass on to them
can be responsibly recycled. Some contractors may even have an on-site
recycling facility which means that the company can be as green as possible
end-to-end and even supply you with recycled aggregates for any building
projects you are planning.
The Process of
Eco-Friendly Waste Disposal
Depending on the type of waste handled, there are different
ways in which it can be recycled. One of the key ways in which much waste can be
effectively recycled is by turning it into energy.
Green and brown waste - aka agricultural waste and wood -
can be transformed into compost and reused. Recycling this waste can reduce
carbon and methane emissions as, if sorted correctly, this waste will avoid the
landfill and go straight to a processing facility to be turned into compost,
which can then be used by homeowners just like yourself looking to start garden
projects.
Green and brown waste can also be turned into a source of
renewable energy: biogas. Through a process named ‘anaerobic digestion’, this
type of waste is fermented in a closed system with the absence of oxygen and
turned into a source of energy. The use of biogas has become more popular in
recent years and you can even buy domestic biogas plants for the home to supply
your own fuel. However, very few households will produce enough green waste to
run one.
Encouragingly though, there are now hundreds of biogas
plants in the UK. The majority of these plants are based on farms, however,
many are now popping up which handle consumer waste. In 2010, biogas was first
introduced to the UK gas grid and Ecotricity has since made a commitment to
build further digesters for the gas grid. This all goes to show that the way
you handle your green and brown waste can have a real impact. As part of a
combined effort to innovate types of renewable energy, this responsible way of
disposing of waste may change the way that we power our homes.
If you’re moving homes, then you may have some old white
goods that need to be disposed of. If not removed responsibly, these items can
last a long time in landfills and create substantial damage to the environment.
However, a responsible waste removal company will be fully versed on The Waste
Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE) to ensure that all the
various materials within the item are separated properly and recycled
responsibly.
As mentioned previously, construction material can be easily
recycled on a waste collection services’ site. This recycled aggregate can be
turned back into construction materials for further projects which will in turn
increase profitability as overheads are lessened for commercial work.
Why Waste Removal
Companies and Organisations Join Forces for the Greater Good
To tackle the gargantuan issue of landfills reaching their
maximum capacity, waste collection companies, organisations and initiatives are
joining up to force through more meaningful change. One way that this is
occurring is through skip hire companies working in conjunction with waste
disposal companies. Sometimes these services dovetail as sister companies under
the same organisational framework. This means that these companies know exactly
what waste is being handled, how much there is and how it should be best
disposed of. Having this kind of end-to-end service, from picking up the waste
to recycling it, means that far less can slip through the cracks and end up in
the landfill.
On a wider level, waste prevention initiatives like ‘Halving
Waste to Landfill’ provide guidelines to industries on how they can be more
environmentally conscious. This initiative, in particular, was envisioned by
Wrap, whose mission is to move to a sustainable economy by looking at how we
design products in the first place, how we then use them and finally how we
dispose of them and recycle them. This organisation works with commercial
enterprises in all sectors to try and push issues surrounding environmentalism
to the forefront. Talking to companies in a way that they understand and
framing the dialogue of being eco-friendly as well as profitable is key in
making this change. Without collaborations of these kinds, it’s hard to see how
changes will arrive in a lasting way.
As a green homeowner, if you want to do your bit, talk to
the contractors you are thinking of hiring to see whether they are signed up to
any similar initiatives and how they handle the waste the manage.
Who We Are
For the past 45 years, Graham Churchill Plant has been
servicing both domestic and commercial clients in and across the regions of
Bedfordshire, Oxfordshire, Northamptonshire and Buckinghamshire. Whether you’re
looking for waste collection, small skip hire, cheap skip hire, excavator hire or
recycling we can provide you with the equipment or professional services you
need.
Imperatively, we have an on-site recycling service so we can
always ensure that, no matter what waste we manage for you, we will do our
utmost to recycle as much of it as possible. The waste that we handle is always
managed in a legal and safe way and we are committed to being as
environmentally friendly as we can.
To find out more about us and our waste management services, feel
free to contact
us. You can visit us at Graham Churchill Plant Ltd,
Winter Hills, Silverstone, Towcester, Northamptonshire, NN12 8UG, call our
Silverstone office on 01327 857 246 or email us at info@grahamchurchill.co.uk.
