Wolseley Renews Greenstar Contract
Thursday 27th August 2009
Wolseley UK, part of Wolseley plc, has renewed its recycling and waste management contract with Greenstar UK for another three years.
The leading distributor of plumbing and heating products, and also a major supplier of construction materials, Wolseley has a nationwide branch network, supported by one national and three regional distribution centres. It supplies more than 400,000 plumbing, heating and building product lines to a wide customer base, including house builders, local authorities, facility managers, leisure and retail operators, and health and educational institutions.
Greenstar was first awarded Wolseley’s waste management contract in 2006, rapidly conducting a comprehensive waste stream audit and then designing and implementing a site rationalisation and vehicle backhaul programme. This supported an across-the-board service that addressed all Wolseley’s general waste, recycling, electrical (WEEE), confidential waste, and hazardous waste needs.
Every Wolseley location is provided with collection containers appropriate to its size and the waste materials it generates. Most commonly used are 1100 litre wheeled bins, but others may include front end and rear end loaders, skips and roll on-roll off containers. Branch and distribution centre employees recycle a wide range of materials, such as paper, cardboard, plastic and timber, commingled for greater collection efficiency.
Recycling up over 40%
Each month, Greenstar’s team makes over 4,000 lifts of 1100 litre wheeled containers, and its efforts have helped Wolseley to increase its recycling rate significantly from around 3% to the current estimated 50%. This achievement has been led by greater recovery of cardboard and plastic, and has trimmed Wolseley’s waste-related costs by approximately 20%. The Greenstar team works closely with Wolseley UK’s environmental working group to review performance and agree future development of the service.
The latest three-year contract will aim to recover more recyclable materials from Wolseley UK’s waste stream, such as plasterboard. The company is targeting increased recycling rates by the end of this year - together with further cost savings.
Connor Dalton, Wolseley’s environmental manager, said Greenstar’s expertise had helped the company address a key part of its corporate responsibility agenda.
“We aim to minimise waste as a way of reducing Wolseley UK’s carbon footprint and environmental impact,” he explained, “and Greenstar’s professionalism has been a significant factor in minimising waste and boosting recycling. The team came up with more good ideas about how we can capture greater amounts of recyclables as well as controlling cost increases, so there was little hesitation in renewing the contract.”
Greenstar account manager Alex Bordun commented that working with a customer that engaged so positively with recycling ‘gave everyone in the team a huge boost’.
He added: “We know we’ve helped Wolseley UK to achieve great things with its waste minimisation programme. With this renewed contract under our belt, we look forward to helping the company do even more.”