Pictured above: The NEC's Cleaning Manager Paul Jenkins
checks out the new Envirobins with Gary Mills of Leafield
Environmental
The NEC is leading by example on a new recycling policy - by
recycling its bins!
Visitors and exhibitors at the NEC in Birmingham are being
encouraged to think green and separate their recyclable waste from
general waste. The venue needed new bins to be able to offer the
environmentally-friendly service - so the company decided there was
no better way to kick-start the campaign than having the old bins
removed and recycled.
Out went 400 bins to be sent through a chipper, then processed
and moulded into 400 new 'Arena Envirobins'.
The bins, which were custom designed with the help of the NEC
team, were first used at Sustainabilitylive! - an event that
brought together five leading environmental exhibitions and
attracted more than 9,000 visitors to the NEC in 2011.
Hailed as the most successful and impressive Sustainabilitylive!
to date, the event, which featured the majority of the water,
energy, environment and sustainable business sectors and recorded a
six per cent increase in attendance, was also a perfect launch pad
for the NEC's latest green initiative.
The Arena Envirobins, which are produced by Leafield
Environmental, were designed with events in mind. The NEC's bins
can be stacked, moved and branded, they will sit flush against
walls, and they weigh less than 7kg and feature a 95-litre
capacity.
With more than two million visitors to 125 exhibitions every
year, the venue needed a flexible, transportable and stackable
solution to its commitment to recycling in public areas.
Kathryn James, Managing Director at the NEC, said: "We take our
responsibility to reduce the negative impact of our operation on
the environment very seriously.
"While our recycling aims are ambitious, we are positive that
the commitment of the entire Group, together with the support of
our visitors and partners, will drive us towards this goal."
Two bins make up the simple new system: one bin takes all
recyclable items such as plastic bottles, paper, coffee cups and
glass, and one bin is for general waste and all items that cannot
be recycled.
Gary Mills, Areas Sales Manager of Leafield Environmental, said:
"The NEC has been a valued client for a number of years. When they
approached us with their exciting plans and ideas to collect and
recycle a greater proportion of the waste generated by visitors to
events, we were delighted to help.
"Working with the NEC's Cleaning Manager Paul Jenkins and his
team we have been able to design and manufacture this Arena
Recycling Bin specifically to meet their needs of flexible use,
stacking and storage. In addition, the fact that Leafield
Environmental was able to recycle the old NEC bins and use the
material in the new product means that there has been no landfill
waste impact from the transition."
The recycling scheme is one of a raft of current projects and
future ideas by the NEC Group to help reduce the negative impact of
its operations on the environment.
The Group, which operates the NEC alongside other venues the LG
Arena, the ICC and the NIA, invested £330,000 in 2009 to open
a dedicated recycling plant at the NEC and the plant now diverts
around 1,500 tonnes of rubbish away from landfill every year.
A recycling campaign already underway within the NEC Group's
catering company Amadeus has been hugely successful, with 38 per
cent of catering waste recycled in the first three months; the
impressive figure includes around 34,000 glass bottles, enough
packaging waste to have prevented an estimated 32,000 cubic metres
of CO2 escaping into the atmosphere, and enough cardboard to have
saved 85 trees.
The Group aims to recycle 50 per cent of all NEC site waste by
2014.