Swansea Council is practising what it preaches by cutting waste and avoiding landfill costs.
Swansea residents are being urged to do the right thing and recycle as much as possible and the authority’s Corporate Building Services are showing the way by recycling almost 70% of the waste it produces.
It’s diverted 2,100 tonnes of waste from landfill and in the process avoided paying £430,000 of landfill tax and won the Council a prestigious national environmental award as well.
The team’s budget-busting green measures earned it a Special Commendation Award at the Wales Public Sector Waste and Sustainability Awards 2010 for its outstanding commitment to waste reduction.
Martin Nicholls at the City and County of Swansea said: “Our team has worked exceptionally hard to improve our sustainability and it is great to receive this recognition of our efforts.
“Our staff have really embraced the need to cut down on waste and while we now recycle everything that can be recycled we are still looking for ways to further reduce the amount of waste we generate.
“In the current financial environment the work we are doing has the potential to help reduce cost to the Council and ultimately its tenants and council tax payers.”
In just two years the 600-strong Corporate Building Services Department at Swansea Council has increased its recycling levels from 16% in to 67%.
Corporate Building Services has also reduced its overall energy consumption by 25% in 2008 compared to 2007 and achieved a further 4% reduction this year to date.
Water consumption has also been reduced by 33% in 2008 compared to consumption in 2007 and has since been reduced by a further 17% to date this year.
Its transport fleet are now being routinely monitored, with an overall reduction in carbon emissions of 581 tonnes since it launched its Waste and Sustainability agenda in 2007.
