London Wider Waste Strategy - London - Greater London Authority

4.66. Not surprisingly, all of the waste management companies that collect commercial and
industrial wastes have a very large range of diverse clients, from a corner shop or small
office producing relatively small amounts of waste, to large retailers, major commercial
companies and a range of industries. Of the companies that were able and willing to
give a breakdown, most thought that the approximate split between small and large
accounts was around 50:50.
4.67. All of the major companies were offering some form of total waste management service
in London including waste auditing and waste minimisation advice, and wider activities
such as cleaning and security, as well as waste handling and disposal. It is understood
that in many cases contracts would be set up with incentives to promote sustainable
waste management practices and, in some cases, the waste management company may
also be getting paid for recycling.
4.68. One company commented that they provide a service for one-off events such as
sporting occasions, exhibitions, conferences and concerts. Examples included the
Millennium Dome and events at Wembley. In this regard, they provide a full waste
management service including facilities and personnel as well as waste transport and
recycling/disposal. The waste management contracts for these large events are often
tendered, usually as a one-off contract. Whilst some do include an element of recycling,
perhaps expressed as a target, the perception was that they were nearly always driven
by price and that perhaps only scant attention was paid to recycling. The same
consultee also noted that due to the one-off nature of these contracts there was usually
insufficient opportunity to work with the producer to try and promote more sustainable
waste management practices.
Recommendation 3: In order to advance the promotion of sustainable waste
management practice in London, it is recommended that a best practice guide
be issued relating to the management of waste resulting from large-scale
public events.
4.69. The comment was made that SMEs have perhaps a lower expectation as customers than
larger companies since they expect lower prices with an associated lower standard of
service. Larger SME’s tend to sign up for longer than a year contract (the minimum
length of contract for this consultee). The smaller SMEs arrangements tend to be a lot
more ad-hoc and will shop around for the cheapest contract. The larger enterprises
tend to have waste managers who may be looking for different buying criteria, such as
higher quality, different collection regimes etc, in addition to corporate plans, including
a company environmental policy.
Treatment and Disposal
4.70. All but two of the companies consulted use transfer stations within London for the
bulking up of wastes before transport onwards for processing and disposal. The first
exception is a company with four treatment centres located around the M25 for liquid
wastes which utilise either physical and chemical treatment or anaerobic digestion. The
residues are then disposed of to landfill. The other has a materials recycling facility
(MRF) for the separation of materials which are then sent for recovery and recycling.
4.71. Another company consulted already operates a MRF in London, and a third is proposing
to develop one. One consultee commented that the amounts of waste recovered at
MRFs largely depend on whether the waste is pre-sorted or unsorted when it enters the
MRF; wastes at the former are easier to recover, as recyclables are already sorted, and
hence a much larger proportion is recovered with only a very low percentage of residual
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