Our goal to achieve a ’zero to landfill’ status in 2020 was very close with all businesses across the Group achieving over 99.2% of waste diverted from landfill. The levels of waste segregated on site increased to 83% (2019: 73%).
Our Labels division, through recycling 86 tonnes (2019: 50 tonnes) of paper-based backing product as part of their waste reduction programme, achieved 98.3% (2019: 99.9%) waste diverted from landfill.
Table 4 demonstrates significant improvements in the recycling and recovery rate figures in the last ten years.
Further achievements in 2020 are:
- The majority of Macfarlane sites now purchase electricity through renewable sources.
- Twelve of our sites are now registered as FSC® accredited, facilitating the procurement and distribution of sustainably sourced products.
Our key environmental objectives for 2021 include:
- Continuous review and appraisals of all sites every quarter with a view to making efficiencies;
- Consider options for capital expenditure to improve efficiency in the Group’s recovery and recycling activities, taking into account the findings from our Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (’ESOS’) report;
- Incorporate all new sites under the Group waste contract therefore ensuring compliance, regular reviews and appraisals to support the overall Group targets;
- Continuation of our programme to introduce LED lighting throughout our sites;
- Deliver savings through the Manufacturing Waste Reduction Programme;
- Transition plan to register recent acquisitions to BSI ISO 14001 Environmental Management Standard; and
- Increasing the number of RDC’s capable of selling products which are FSC certified as coming from sustainable sources.
Table 4 – Recycling & Recovery Rate
