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Waste

Our employees are encouraged to consider how we can improve our environmental performance in all areas by reducing consumption, reusing materials and recycling wherever possible.

In 2012, our Supply division reduced overall waste by 13% and continued to recycle waste in line with their rolling KPI which is:

"To recycle more than 95% of all manufacturing waste produced."

• Of the 33,000 tonnes of waste produced (2011: 37,900), 98% was recycled (2011: 98%).
• One element of waste from the manufacturing process is sawdust. In 2012 we converted 14,700 tonnes of sawdust into energy at our Howden and Runcorn sites (2011: 16,600 tonnes), with sawdust fuelling five wood combustion boilers that burn this waste to heat our factories. This equates to approx. 75k MWh of energy generated from sawdust in 2012.
• We also supplied 4,700 tonnes of milled sawdust to a local manufacturer of animal bedding where the sawdust is recycled for use in bedding for horses, cattle and other livestock (2011: 5,000 tonnes).
• We continue with the initiative started in 2007 to recover and repair pallets which would otherwise have been scrapped. Last year we recovered or repaired more than 125,000 pallets (2011: 138,000).

During the year, our trade division engaged with a waste contractor to implement a recycling programme to reduce the waste sent to landfill from our trade depots. To date this programme has been rolled-out to 248 depots, with initial results showing that there has been an overall reduction in excess of 50% in waste being sent to landfill. We will continue to roll the programme out further in 2013.