Office waste management

Rickshaw Travel, UK – recycling

Recycling is as essential in head offices as it is on the ground. Rickshaw Travel has set a target to recycle 98% of its office waste — at the moment they recycle 92%. Partnering with local recycling company Paper Round has helped to support Rickshaw’s mission. Paper is separated into four grades — white, sorted office waste, newspaper and magazines, and cardboard. Any contaminated paper is turned into sludge to make soil conditioner for farmers or generate energy. By buying recycled paper in the first place, Rickshaw is operating a closed loop.

Mixed cans, aluminium and steel are all used to make new drinks cans, car parts or even aircraft production, and glass is separated by colour before being sent to bottle and jar manufacturers. Rickshaw tries to minimise plastic where possible, but any leftover is sorted and flaked so that plastic manufacturers can use a recycled rather than virgin product, saving two tonnes of CO2 per tonne of plastic used. Finally, electric and batteries are recycled using local schemes, and food waste is sent to an anaerobic digestion biogas plant where its converted into energy and enters the National Grid.