But is business also moving in the right direction? And can smaller companies put long-term programmes in place without breaking the bank? Neil Johnston from waste management specialist, Alpheus Environmental, comments:

Waste minimisation can have a huge impact on a company’s bottom line, typically saving at least 1% of a company’s annual turnover. Besides financial benefits, legislation is now effectively penalising companies that don’t carry out waste minimisation programmes. As part of the IPPC, companies applying for permits are now obliged to undertake waste minimisation and water audits. These have to be carried out by 31 August 2005 or one year after the permit has been granted.

Before a waste management programme can be put into place, an audit process carried out by a specialist identifies opportunities, estimates cost savings and then investigates ways of achieving maximum savings. For instance, is the company using high quality drinking water to cool boilers and clean vehicles?

For a waste minimisation programme to be effective, it’s essential that all staff throughout the company are involved. Before implementation, employees should be fully educated and practical workshops provided; individuals are much more likely to support an initiative if they can see the bigger picture. Offering incentives is also a useful way to motivate staff and achieve support!

Waste minimisation opportunities are available to all businesses, from giant food processing companies to small office firms. Often the biggest savings are achieved when water is recycled or consumption reduced.

At a dairy where only 40% of all softened water was metered, a programme of meter installation and logging was implemented by Alpheus to achieve over 90% metering. Data collected revealed that significant unaccounted water use was occurring at a cooling tower. Further investigation confirmed a ball valve had failed and its repair saved the company approximately £12k per annum. At the same site, minor modifications at a trolley washer costing around £3k provided savings of £19.5k per annum, with a payback of less than 8 weeks.

Similarly, a water use logging programme at a food factory identified a large number of minor leaks and losses. Although individually small, in total the losses accounted for approx. 150m³ per day. The site was supplied by a borehole with excess water supplied by mains. Subsequent remedial work enabled the site to run solely on borehole water.

As is evident, the advantages of waste management and, in particular, water minimisation can be substantial. As well as reducing water consumption, associated heating and pumping costs can also be reduced. Whatever the size of your company, an initial investment can reap huge rewards in a very short time. And, with business water rates due to increase by up to 50% over the next five years, now is an ideal time to focus on waste management!

Alpheus Environmental Ltd specialises in water management, waste minimisation and recycling. It provides national coverage - with a head office in Bedford and crew locations at Northallerton, Stalybridge, Lincoln, Kidderminster and Stowmarket - and manages over 1300 sites throughout the UK. Alpheus is accredited to ISO 9001:2000 and ISO 14001:1996. For further information, contact Mira Popovic on (01234) 686100.