Waste and resource management
We manage waste generated by our own activities, such as process sludges and material we dig out of holes in the road, and also manage waste on behalf of others. Overall we managed 1.3 million tonnes of waste in 2008/09 of which over 92% was sent for recycling. Our largest waste stream is sludge generated from the wastewater processes we operate. This year over 99% of this was recycled to land in our regulated business – our preferred option. We’ve also completed a refurbishment of our thermal destruction plant at Shell Green. We are increasing capacity to secure our disposal options over the longer term so we are not overly reliant on just one disposal route.
The majority of our capital projects fall within Site Waste Management Plan (SWMP) regulations which came into force in April 2008. We’ve taken action to incorporate these regulations into our business processes. In addition, we have continued to promote the recycling of excavated material and the use of recycled aggregate. We now use over 54% to fill in the trenches we create in our regulated water business and gas and electric network activities.
Our main office waste recycling rates continue to be above 60%. We hope that a move away from individual desk bins will help us to make our recycling efforts more efficient.
This year we’ve commissioned a new process at our Central Oil Reprocessing Depot (CORD) which will enable us to re-use more transformer oil in our electricity business.
With our operational site waste and depot waste we continue to look at how we can recycle more of our waste through separating it out and looking for alternative uses. Our expertise is paying off in a commercial sense too, now we’ve been made preferred bidder for the Derbyshire and Derby City Municipal solid waste contract - our first win in this market.