Member Article

Yorwaste win university contract

Waste management and recycling company Yorwaste has won a major new contract to handle waste generated by one of the UK’s most prestigious universities.

The company was successful in a competitive tender to provide a general waste and mixed recycling collection and processing service for the University of York.

In total, this will involve the collection of 1,073 tonnes of general and mixed recycling – such as glass, cans, paper and cardboard - a year.

Over the course of the three year contract, which has an option for a further seven years, Yorwaste has been tasked with increasing recycling by 30% in the first year of the contract. The current rate is 54.7%.

Gill Mulroe, Yorwaste Key Account Manager, said: “We are delighted to have been re-awarded the contract to provide waste and recycling services on behalf of the University of York.

“We have worked closely with the university over the last five years of the contract to improve recycling but this new contract will result in us achieving even higher recycling and landfill diversion rates.

“To do this we are planning to stage a number of roadshows at the university with the aim of encouraging the students to think about the waste they produce and how they can either minimise this or ensure they recycle it in the correct way.

“The students come from all over the UK, and abroad, and depending where you are from there can often be mixed messages when it comes to recycling, so by getting everybody to understand how the recycling will be done at the university, this should increase the overall recycling rates.”

Yorwaste will carry out 4,000 bin collections each month on behalf of the university. All the material will be taken for processing to the company’s Harewood Whin Resource Recovery Centre in York.

Mark Clough, Environmental Manager at the University of York, said: “The University is expected to grow in terms of staff, student numbers and building infrastructure and therefore the quantity of waste is expected to increase by approximately 15%-20% over the next 5 years.

“We already have a culture of recycling and sustainable waste management across the university and this has progressively increased over the years. By appointing Yorwaste, who already have an in-depth knowledge of the university, they will further enhance this culture by providing sustainable and innovative solutions to our waste management requirements.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Neil Shaefer .