New Recycling System for Blue Diamond
Five of Blue Diamond’s garden centres have significantly reduced skip use and uptake by introducing a new waste recycling scheme, working with Mil-tek Direct Ltd.
The garden centres were skipping thousands of boxes and plastic material at considerable weekly cost. Blue Diamond considered how best to deal with the mountains of packaging boxes and process then in an environmentally conscious way. Together they decided to introduce a waste baler from Gloucestershire based Mil-tek, to process both waste cardboard and plastic.
The centres used to have three skips that were emptied twice a week, making six skip loads in all. By using the Mil-tek baler they have reduced that to just one skip load of non recyclable rubbish. Eighty percent of packaging material is now recycled through the baler.
The garden centre warehouse teams separate card from plastic and the material is neatly compressed into dense bales which are then collected and recycled. The baler is easy and safe to use and is powered by an energy friendly air compressor. According to Karen Boers, Marketing Manager for the Blue Diamond Group, there are other benefits too. She says: “the yard is much tidier now that the card and plastic is collected and baled on a regular basis. We get through vast quantities of cardboard and plastic packaging because most of our products arrived wrapped in it, from patio table sets to photo frames to water butts. We get through such an amount that we are now being paid for the cardboard we recycle, which is an added bonus. We’re delighted with the difference the baler makes.”
Mil-tek has supplied balers to several of the Blue Diamond sites, including Trentham Garden Centre in Stoke-on-Trent, Wilton House Garden Centre in Wiltshire, Brambridge Park Garden Centre in Hampshire and St Peters Garden Centre in Jersey. Two more are planned for sites in Guernsey.
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