Bristol waste management consultancy Eunomia is working on an innovative trade waste collection service in Bath which would massively increase recycling rates in the World Heritage City’s central area.
Eunomia has been commissioned by Bath’s Business Improvement District (BID), the membership organisation tasked with boosting city centre trade, to come up with a streamlined and cost-effective system that meets the needs of businesses while preserving the unique appearance and qualities of the city centre.
The project gives Eunomia a rare chance to work close to its home city. The firm, launched in 2001 by Dr Dominic Hogg, works for major companies, organisations and governments across the world including the European Commission and Greenpeace. In the UK blue chip clients include the Co-operative Bank and RWE Npower. Following steady growth the company now employs 31 people 28 of them consultants.
Its work with Bath BID aims to reverse a situation where just 20% of trade waste collected in the city is recycled, with 80% going to landfill.
This will be achieved by treating trade waste collections the same as domestic bin rounds, with cardboard, food waste and dry material being recycled and only residual waste sent to landfill.
After feedback from its 600-plus levy-payers, the BID has launched a formal tendering process with operators being asked to consider new, creative ways of providing a service that matches Bath’s World Heritage status.
Under the plan, recycling and general waste would be collected by one operator using a single vehicle fleet – replacing the current system which involves 15 different operators coming into the city.
The recycling service would be free and the rubbish collection heavily-subsidised.
BID manager Andrew Cooper said: “The BID is a catalyst for change and improvement and we are engaging with the trade waste sector to challenge the status quo and look for new ways to provide a service to BID levy-payers that have a direct impact on their business and the city’s aesthetics. The BID believes the benefits of this initiative will help the environment and protect Bath’s precious streetscape by reducing congestion and pollution.
“I am confident that this new service would save our levy-payers a significant sum of money and also dramatically improve recycling rates. One of the Bath BID’s three key focuses is to make savings for city centre businesses, and this proposal for a simplified and unified waste collection scheme is part of our strategy to deliver this.”
Bath BID chairman Simon Pullen added: “Any planned new service would have environmental, aesthetic and financial benefits for the city and its businesses. A service that provides BID levy-payers with an improved level of recycling and addresses the wider issues such as minimising businesses’ exposure to landfill tax increases would be the ultimate goal. Moreover, it would reduce congestion in the city centre and improve the appearance of public spaces by cutting the number of waste collection operators and providing gull-resistant collection boxes. It is a scheme that could work from every angle.”
The BID’s target is for the approved scheme to be in place by next April. Trade waste companies interested in potentially being involved in the tendering process should contact James Fulford at Eunomia by emailing james.fulford@eunomia.co.uk.
