Our customer is a prestigious multi tenanted office campus in the City of London. The Managing Agent has responsibility for the removal of the tenants' waste and in 2005, in support of their application for ISO 14001, asked Office and General to manage waste with a view to maximising recycling and minimising landfill.

Our first step was to work with the tenants to understand their current attitudes to waste, enthusiasm for recycling, and understanding of the legislation. Many wanted to participate in a recycling scheme and we provided them with a 'two bin system' with all recyclables going into one bin and non-recyclable waste into the other. The bins were emptied daily and material taken to designated storage areas.

Daily collections were made by O&G's own fleet of waste vehicles with recyclables being taken to our processing partner in Langley.

Labour was assigned to manually sort waste from Tenants who did not wish to participate in the recycling scheme. This drove up recycling rates considerably and within six months recycling accounted for 60% of the total waste generated by the building.

During the course of the first year, Office and General worked closely with Tenants and the Managing Agent to increase awareness of the benefits of recycling and encourage participation. Tenants who had previously not wished to participate joined the scheme and the recycling rate rose above 80%.

Separate collections were arranged for the disposal of hazardous waste including bulbs and batteries, the material being sent to a reclamation centre in East London.

In 2006 a wormery was installed on site to re-process food waste and recycling rates peaked at 97% of the total building waste.

Office and General manage all legislative compliance on behalf of the Tenants and Managing Agent providing Waste Transfer Notes and Duty of Care Certificates as well as providing comprehensive reports on recycling rates.