Retail waste Management Case Study: JONES BOOTMAKER 

Improving Recycling in the High street

Jones Bootmaker is an established UK shoe retail company. Starting as a family business, Jones first opened its doors in London’s Bayswater in 1857.

In early 2008 Jones recognized that a change in direction was needed in the management of waste at its stores. Very little recycling was being carried out, with virtually all stores disposing of all waste into black bags and bins.

Review of current waste management plan

Recycling Services conducted a full audit of Jones’ 87 stores across the UK Detailed information was collected regarding the composition of their general waste, current volumes and frequencies of waste collection. The challenge in many stores was the shortage of space for additional containers for segregation at store level.

                                                                                                                                                                                
 

Implementation of new waste management plans

From the information gathered by the waste audit process, Recycling services designed and implemented a new waste management and recycling system for Jones. This was driven by targeting key recyclables for segregation from the general waste stream, notably cardboard but also where possible paper, cans and plastic. In many locations, card, paper cans and plastics are collected together to minimise sorting whilst maximising recycling potential.

“We are delighted to have won the Green Apple Award by working with Cory to improve our recycling rate and can now monitor our recycling rates across all sites”.

Linda Pearce, Jones Bootmaker

Waste Operations management

All waste and recycling is managed for Jones through a single point of contact at Recycling Services’ National Operations Centre in Telford. The sites now have a single telephone number for managing queries and organizing collections of the various waste and recyclables, as well as any one off clearances of items such as WEEE waste.

Continuous improvement of recycling and waste management

After just 5 months, the recycling rate went from practically zero to 35%. By the end of 2010 we had achieved a recycling rate of 65% across the board, with plans to improve this throughout 2011. To achieve this we are planning more communication initiatives with staff to run in parallel with the introduction of new recycling services and initiatives across all stores.

Benefits of the Recycling Services Waste Management Plan

Implementation of the new recycling schemes through Recycling Services has resulted in Jones being awarded a Green Apple award for recycling achievements. Additional benefits have been:

• 15% reduction in overall waste costs
• Continually improving recycling rates
• Consolidated central control and environmental reporting
• Longer term benefits as landfill tax continues to rise and more of Jones waste is recycled.

By Partnering with Recycling Services, Jones is able to achieve their recycling aspirations via our flexible approach and management of a previously fragmented and difficult to manage system.

                                                                                                                                                                                                              

Further information

For further information or queries concerning this or other service solutions from Cory Environmental please contact our National Operations Centre in Telford: Telephone: 0870 850 3074 Fax: 01952 204482 E-mail: servicedesk@coryenvironmental.co.uk Or visit: www.recycling-services.co.uk