The OHSAS 18001 award coincided with the company achieving a 27% reduction in Lost Time Incidents (LTIs) and winning the National Recycling Award for Innovation in Health & Safety.
This was a direct result of the development of a strong safety culture through increased training and awareness as well as the launch of RAE (Risk Assessment Expert) a cartoon crash test dummy that highlights accident prevention.
The Merseyside Waste Disposal Authority (MWDA) awarded the company a twenty year integrated recycling and waste management contract to update the area’s recycling infrastructure.
We used the platform of the first ‘Futuresource’ exhibition at ExCeL to launch our ‘Waste Manifesto’ which includes a series of position statements contributing to the national debate on recycling and waste management issues. A second Waste Manifesto followed in 2010.
Our landmark sponsorship of the Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition in partnership with the Natural History Museum and BBC Wildlife Magazine saw our Chief Executive, Jean-Dominique Mallet help present the awards at a ceremony attended by over four hundred people. All our staff and their families were entitled to free admission to the exhibition and were given the opportunity to enter our own Staff Photography Competition.
In 2010 we started the year by announcing that every employee was entitled to a half day’s volunteering activity. The company won the flagship seven year Westminster municipal services contract worth £260 million with an option for a further seven year extension and was praised by Westminster City Council for the “strong partnership” we had developed with them since we were first awarded a contract with them in 1995.
Our Integrated Private Finance Initiative (PFI) and Public Private Partnerships (PPP) portfolio was further strengthened with a new contract with Staffordshire County Council.
Since coming to the UK we have invested over a billion pounds in a nationwide recycling and waste management infrastructure through our integrated contracts. Our Materials Recovery Facilities (MRFs), ERFs, composting facilities, Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRCs) and transfer stations have all contributed to the UK’s significantly improved landfill diversion performance.
Agreement was reached with Whitbread for three hundred of its restaurants and hotels across the UK to receive dedicated collections of food waste which are sent for anaerobic digestion. The company also opened its first commercial services Materials Recovery Facility in Castle Donington, near Derby as part of the expansion of our commercial recycling infrastructure.
In June, the Chief Executive of Veolia Environmental Services worldwide, Denis Gasquet, attended the launch of our £2 million purpose-built marine barge ‘Sea Green’ based in the Port of Southampton. The barge undertakes waterside collections on behalf of the cruise and commercial shipping industries and then treats and recycles the waste at our Marchwood marine service centre.
Finally, in October the company was awarded the Carbon Trust Standard certification for reducing its carbon emissions by more than 19% over the past three years. The Carbon Trust Standard recognises organisations that have measured, managed and reduced their carbon emissions and are committed to further reductions.