Cleanzine: your weekly cleaning and hygiene industry newsletter 25th April 2024 Issue no. 1111
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Leeds Castle drives for sustainability
Management and staff at Leeds Castle have been making great progress in developing the venue's waste management procedures, with a view to increasing recycling rates and minimising the amount of waste sent to landfill as a result of the castle's day-to-day operations.
The sustainability drive began in April 2010, with a clear target to achieve zero waste to landfill for the site.
The castle now boasts a recycling rate of over 96% and this figure is rising each month. Some 55% is sent for recycling, while over 40% is sent to a local power station to produce Energy from Waste.
Local company Countrystyle has been brought in to provide recycling expertise and to run the day-today waste management operation.
The first step was to install on-site separation bins to segregate paper, cardboard, glass, plastic, metal, aerosols, batteries, paint tins, lamps, electrical and hazardous items.
Alongside this, catering group Leith's hasimproved its operations and all food waste from the castle's kitchens is taken away for composting by Countrystyle. Waste cooking oil is also recycled to provide fuel.
"We take our commitment to the environment very seriously and we want to see Leeds Castle as setting the standard in responsible recycling," says Colin Day, Facilities Manager at Leeds Castle.
"With over half a million visitors a year, it's a sizeable task to segregate all of the waste but our staff have made it happen by responding positively to the challenge. We have also seen financial benefits through recycling rebates, which have been invested back into the programme to help us towards our 100% target."
Countrystyle Group is one of the UK's fastest growing private waste management and recycling companies, offering cost-effective, long term solutions to the ongoing problems of handling waste without damaging the environment.
It is dedicated to protecting the environment by recycling both inert and organic waste material into a wide variety of new products, in order to reduce landfill to an absolute minimum and offer its clients a more sustainable solution to handling waste.
Leeds Castle is located near Maidstone just off Junction 8 of the M20 between London and the Channel ports, clearly signposted from the motorway with brown tourist signs. It is one hour's drive from London, 25 miles from the Eurotunnel terminal at Folkestone and 38 miles from the port of Dover.
Photos courtesy Leeds Castle Foundation
0844 880 7700
T: 0800 880 7700
E: [email protected]
W: www.countrystylegroup.co.uk
24th November 2011