Last Wednesday I had the opportunity to attend a tour of Veolia’s waste treatment facility. Veolia operates under a ‘circular economy’ business principle, whereby waste to landfill is removed from the waste process, and replaced by recycling or energy from waste. This aims to further incorporate sustainable thought into the waste process, with Veolia stating that adopting this circular economy principle could inject £29 billion (1.8% of GDP) into the UK economy, alongside the creation of an extra 175,000 jobs.
On the day, we were given opening talks by various managers across Veolia’s operations who discussed their practices within the waste and energy sectors. This involved presentations into the innovative solutions that Veolia has adopted, such as recycling street sweepings (e.g. cans/ plastics for general recycling and twigs/leaves for biodegradation). This is done through a process of wet and dry separation, which diverts 85-90 % of street sweepings from landfill.
The materials being processed through disc screens, which separates resources.
The Southwark treatment facility operates across a number of waste types, with 50% of recycled waste sold to brokers in the UK and the other 50% abroad. Waste is split between cardboard, glass, juice cartons and more, showing how value can be derived from waste.
Veolia’s Southwark waste treatment facility is located near Old Kent Road (SE15 1AL) and serves as the main recycling point for the borough and a number of locations across King’s.
With a large amount of King’s waste taken for treatment by Veolia, how can King’s help to mitigate waste from landfill?
Students in residences should be reminded that they can recycle plastics, cardboard, glass, paper, tins, tetrapak (juice cartons) in recycling bins located in shared kitchens. Batteries, clothing and electrical items (phone chargers, printers etc.) can also be recycled at residences, but not in kitchen bins.
The new bins!
New recycling bins have just been rolled out across Champion Hill residences. Stamford Street Apartments and Great Dover Street Apartments will also be receiving new recycling bins on the 28th September.
If you are unsure about how to recycle any waste, please contact your residence manager or email the Sustainability team at sustainability@kcl.ac.uk.
Rhianne Menzies, Sustainability Projects Assistant
