Business in Brief - 18/03/2021
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ShareSunrise Senior Living UK and Gracewell Healthcare renew recycling contract with Reconomy
Senior Living UK and Gracewell Healthcare, who provide care, nursing and assisted living for the elderly, have renewed their contract with Reconomy, the recycling, resource and waste management company across 46 care homes.
During the pandemic, Reconomy has worked with Sunrise and Gracewell to deliver vital waste management services in compliance with government guidelines.
The new contract aims to introduce pioneering solutions to waste management that intend to allow for a wider scope of sustainability, including coffee ground recycling, closed loop PPE recycling, and new uniformed signage and labelling systems.
Head of Account Management at Reconomy, Steve Hatton, said: “We are proud to have been able to support Sunrise Senior Living UK and Gracewell Healthcare over the past 3 years, especially with the immense pressure the facilities have been under during the pandemic.
“By continuing to deliver a hassle-free waste service that evolves over time to deliver financial and environmental benefit, we feel satisfied we are fulfilling this and creating a long-lasting partnership.”
Chris Dean, Director of Procurement at Sunrise and Gracewell, commented: “We are delighted to award Reconomy with this contract as they have helped us to reduce a proliferated supply base and secure savings in a challenging market, all while maintaining the highest standards.
“Reconomy also supported Sunrise and Gracewell to maximise our recycling activities, helping us to achieve our commitment to reduce our impact on the environment.”
Biffa to provide ALPLA with recycled plastic for homecare products to boost circular economy
Biffa, the sustainable waste management company, and the UK branch of global plastic manufacturer the ALPLA Group are set to collaborate to ensure the manufacturing of UK homecare products use more British recycled plastic.
In May, Biffa will supply ALPLA UK with food grade polyethylene terephthalate (rPET) plastic pellets to be used in making homecare product packaging for items such as cleaning sprays, detergent and washing up bottles. This initiative aims to increase the amount of recycled plastic used in everyday household products.
This comes as Biffa’s most recent endeavour to expand the lifespan of plastic in the UK by circling it back into the packaging supply chain. Last year, Biffa invested £27.5 million in the UK’s green recycling infrastructure, opening a plastic recycling facility in Seaham, which has the capacity to process the equivalent of 1.3 billion plastic bottles annually.
ALPLA has pledged to invest approximately €250 million in recycling between 2021 and 2025, to close the materials loop in as many regions as possible.
Chris Hanlon, Commercial Director at Biffa Polymers, commented: “Our partnership with ALPLA will contribute to our strategic ambition of a more sustainable future built around a circular economy and we’re looking forward to continuing to work with the team to achieve this.”
Tasos Pourloukakis, UK Country Managing Director at Alpla Group said, “The collaboration with Biffa goes along with our aim to push worldwide closed-loop systems on a local level. This approach guarantees the highest possible collection rates, recyclability, and quality of the materials.”
Beddington Energy Recovery Facility’s Community Benefit Fund supports food bank, homeless charity, local farm and infant school
The Beddington Community Benefit Fund, supported by the Beddington Energy Recovery Facility (ERF), has continued to provide grants to projects in the London boroughs of Croydon, Kingston, Merton and Sutton.
The ERF supports houses across the four boroughs to convert non-recyclable waste into energy for approximately 57,000 homes, channelling this waste away from landfills.
The ERF supply a £1 million benefit to projects to access grants to aid projects that benefit the local community. Projects located within 2km of ERF are eligible to apply for grants up to £30,000, while projects within the four boroughs are qualified for £5,000 grants.
The grants provided by the facility have seen a donation of £30,000 go to Beddington infant school for the installation of a solar dome. Meanwhile, Croydon Foodbank has received a donation of just over £10,000 to buy a new van, which will help to further the reach of their deliveries.
Wallington’s Sutton Community Farm obtained a fund of £5,000 towards building a bigger barn for the farm. This comes after a stint of sustained expansion of the farm, which, each month, contributes vegetable boxes for 600 members of the local community. In addition, the farm provides produce for some of London’s most notable restaurants.
The homelessness charity Sutton Nightwatch also received more than £8,000 and aims to use the grant to furnish its centre in Wallington with upgraded security and fire safety improvements.
