Sustainable Waste Management to Defra

Severnside Recycling (UK) has been appointed by Interserve Plc to handle the waste from 157 Defra sites nationwide in the UK.

Defra operates a diverse portfolio of facilities from general offices through to specialist laboratories and large estates and Severnside will be developing bespoke solutions to handle the different waste streams generated in the most sustainable way. This will involve handling a wide range of materials including paper, electronics, food and other waste materials via Severnside’s 15 regional recycling facilities and subsequently specialist re-processors.

“Severnside’s dedication to landfill diversion was fundamental to its appointment,” said Nikki Greening at Interserve. “It is very important that Defra actively take steps to improve its own sustainability when it is its role to encourage everyone else to do the same. Severnside has a great track record in taking a completely sustainable approach to waste management, which made us very confident that the company would help us significantly improve our overall performance, especially on the more challenging waste streams.”

As the contract commences, Severnside will be analysing the waste collected from Defra’s sites to understand the quantities and types of waste that are generated to develop the most sustainable solutions. For example, Severnside already sends its clients’ food waste to be recovered into renewable energy via biomass-to-energy and anaerobic digestion.

Severnside has also applied carbon offsetting into its offering to help Defra not only find alternative solutions for its waste, but also ensure that the chosen options are the most environmentally sound in terms of carbon impact.

Carwyn Gurmin National Sales Manager for Severnside said: “Working with Interserve and Defra is great for us and demonstrates our determination to find sustainable alternatives to waste management. The fact we view waste as a resource enables us to apply completely different thinking when it comes to how waste is handled. We also consider the practices that work best for our clients’ operational processes, rather than what makes life easier for waste handling. We’re looking forward to working with Interserve & Defra as the diverse portfolio means that we’re expanding the expertise within our own business and can use some different technologies that have not be used within our traditional client base. It’s a really exciting contract for us.”

Severnside will be working closely with Interserve, which manages all Defra’s facilities to provide a total waste management solution.