IMC delivers corporate social responsibility

Background

A leading, long established, global financial services firm, with operations in more than 60 countries, has adopted IMC’s food waste recycling solution at one of its UK sites.

With around 4,500 staff, the site is understandably referred to as a “Campus”, incorporating employee facilities that would satisfy even the most demanding of University students.

The firm constantly strives to stay ahead of the pack, and operates under a company-wide mantra of conducting first class business in a first class way. This way of doing business manifests itself not just in the specialist business services it provides but in every facet of its operation.

Corporate Environmental Goals

Fundamental to the way in which the company wishes to portray itself to its customers, shareholders and its employees, is its approach to the green agenda. Whilst corporate policy sets out the strategy by which the company’s environmental goals should be achieved, individual, regional offices are able to implement initiatives, with the prior approval of Head Office, that may be unique to their site.

In the UK, the company’s interpretation of green goals may be applied in a variety of ways to suit the individual circumstances of each site. For example, in dealing with the environmentally friendly disposal of waste, London city centre offices embrace the waste to energy principle whereby any waste streams with a combustible value are collected from site and processed accordingly. In another initiative, the larger of the London sites has its food waste collected and taken to a municipal scale In Vessel Composting facility in Kent where it is mixed with other organic waste streams to produce a low grade compost that is suitable for use as a soil improver in agriculture and for landscaping.

Campus specific

The Campus’s own environmental credentials are founded on the introduction, over many years, of a wide range of green initiatives involving waste management, recycling and even conservation. These have included a reduction in waste paper, avoiding the use of chemicals and a drive to re-use materials for example by purchasing picnic benches which are made out of recycled polymers. In 2008, all under-desk waste bins were withdrawn, replacing them with centralised bin systems.

Staff are encouraged to use public transport, with a bus service provided by the company to take any employees needing to travel in to the local town centre, to use alternative modes of transport ie bicycles or to car share.

The site holds an annual Green Day, now in its fifth consecutive year, which helps to communicate these initiatives and contributes to a growing awareness amongst staff of the importance of being green, both at work and at home.

Waste Management issues

As the supplier of waste and recycling services to all of the company’s sites throughout the UK via sister company, Strand Cleaning, OCS Wasteline brought IMC’s innovative food waste recycling solution to the attention of its Client. As Divisional Director, Richard Earl, explains; “We are constantly reviewing the marketplace to ensure that we are able to deliver best value to our clients. Even with our vast experience, food waste has proved to be a particularly difficult waste stream to dispose of and, with landfill costs set to continue to escalate, the pre existing method of bagging and binning the waste before compacting and sending it to landfill was becoming increasingly untenable, financially, logistically and environmentally.” Richard, together with Laurence Pateman, Account Director at Strand Cleaning, was able to take his client to see the IMC system in operation at the MoD’s new Army School of Catering near Winchester where staff from both the company and its catering services provider, Aramark, could fully ascertain the true value of the system. “We were able to talk to, and ask questions of, so many different people, from those who were involved in the initial solution selection process, to the staff who the system impacts upon and to those that actually use the equipment and the end product,” says Laurence. “We managed to obtain a thorough and realistic understanding of its suitability to our own operation.”

Food waste recycling solution

IMC’s pioneering solution to the disposal of food waste is the result of extensive research completed by the Waste Management Faculty at world renowned Imperial College, London, and has won numerous awards from both the catering and waste management and recycling industries. It uses an IMC Food Waste Disposer to first macerate the food waste before extracting the solid fraction from the macerated waste by means of an IMC “WastePro” Dewaterer. The resultant dewatered waste is then mixed with a small quantity of compressed wood pellets and loaded into an In Vessel Composter from which it emerges 6 to 8 weeks later as high quality compost that conforms with the Standards for Composted Materials BSI PAS100.

At the client company’s Campus, much of the food waste is produced by the on-site catering facilities, including two kitchens that serve an American 60’s style diner and a larger, more traditional restaurant. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are all served on a daily basis. Both kitchens have been fitted with an IMC Food Waste Disposer and Dewaterer, through which all food waste is processed as it is produced. Whilst the grey water resulting from the process is dispensed to drain, the residual solid fraction is captured in small, lidded bins. Every afternoon, under the supervision of Aramark catering staff, the bins are picked up by Strand employees from dedicated collection points and taken to an In Vessel Composter (IVC) which is located in an area on campus that has been reserved for food waste treatment. Following weighing of the dewatered food waste, the requisite wood pellets are then added prior to emptying into the IVC. In order to ensure that the composting process is functioning correctly, a daily log of the temperatures within the vessel is taken.

Agi Mihalyka, Strand Contract Manager, is full of praise for the system: “Since the equipment was installed, the process of adopting it has been seamless. All staff involved in operating the equipment have received certificates confirming their training; this includes the 10 to 12 people in each kitchen as well as the 2 members of Strand staff who have been trained on the use of the IVC.” Like her client, and despite all evidence to the contrary, Agi had been concerned that the composting operation may have given out unpleasant odours. However, such concerns have been completely eradicated. “Any of the smells that used to emanate from the wet food waste lying in the Waste Compactor, and which might therefore have also been sent downwind to neighbouring residents, have been completely abolished since implementing this new system, much to our delight!”

The Building Manager at the Campus is equally enthusiastic; “This has been a really exciting initiative and one that is absolutely right for our local environment. Since we first started producing compost from our food waste a few months ago we have generated 440kg of high quality compost that can be used by the gardening contractors on the grounds here. The site was once owned by a local family and, in some ways, we are returning to some of the old practices that form a part of our heritage here. For example, we have planted a new orchard using trees from the Victorian era to replace the ones that were here for more than two decades. By dealing with the food waste as it is produced, we are able to recycle other materials, such as paper and cardboard, that would otherwise have been contaminated by the food waste and would have to have been disposed of as such.”

Sitting on the company’s Environmental Committee, the Building Manager is keen to educate counterparts at other company sites and has also allowed Strand to demonstrate the system to other Strand clients. Having occupied the Campus for a generation, the company has become an integral part of the local business and residential communities and is regularly visited and benchmarked by local companies who are keen to emulate best practice initiatives.”

Corporate & Social Responsibility

Benefits From a corporate standpoint, the company recognises the value of its green policies and practices in attracting new business. “Any new business tender of merit,” says a senior member of Corporate Real Estate, “now requests information on the tenderer’s environmental credentials and we are able to score very highly in this area. The food waste recycling solution here at this Campus is a world first for our company, with no other in house precedent to follow, which makes our success here even more rewarding. Key to the success of this initiative has been good communication, both with our suppliers and internally. Statistical reporting allows us to demonstrate very accurately to both our staff and the upper echelons of our management structure, not just how much food waste we are now diverting from landfill, and thereby reducing our carbon footprint, but how much we have saved in disposal costs. I am extremely proud of what we have achieved.”

Industry Award Recognition

IMC’s food waste recycling system at this site has enabled OCS WasteLine to secure the Runners-Up position in this year’s prestigious Sustainable FM Awards for “Sustainable Supplier of the Year – Total FM Service.” Please note that for reasons of privacy the details of the client company and its Campus have been withheld.