Introduction 
Waste surveys were sent to approximately 230 companies in the Basildon area. Of these 47 companies responded, a response rate of 20%. The survey asked questions regarding the nature of waste produced and recycled to gauge an idea of which material streams have the most potential to be included in a recycling scheme. 

Key Points 
· 20 % response rate 
· 53 % of companies employed fewer than 25 people 
· 37 % of companies don't know how much waste they produce 
· 23 % were unaware how much total cost of disposal was. 
· Number of companies that did not know how much of the annual turnover was spent
  on waste disposal was 37 % 
· Paper, cardboard, plastic film, scrap metal and wood made up the bulk of the waste
  produced · 56 % of companies would be interested in recycling plastics. 
· The results showed that there is scope to extend the scheme to include paper,
  cardboard and wood 
· 72 % of companies do some recycling 
· Segregation and storage of waste appears to be an important factor in recycling. 

Company Size
 This was based on the number of people employed by a company. Over half of the companies responding employed fewer than 25 people.

Unknown Information 
One of the most significant points found from the waste survey is that a large proportion of companies are unaware how much waste they produce, how much is spent annually on the disposal of that waste and how much of the annual turnover of their company is spent on this. This can be illustrated by the following graphs.

 

Tonnage produced	Percentage of Companies
1 – 5	11 %
6 – 10	7 %
11 – 25	11 %
26 – 49	2 %
50 – 100	15 %
101 – 199	2 %
200 – 399	2 %
400 +	13 %
Unknown	37 %

Waste Produced

Waste Type	No of Companies	Percentage
Paper	41	91
Cardboard	40	89
Plastic Film	25	56
Wood	22	49
Scrap Metal	21	47
Food	11	24
Oil	10	22
Glass	7	16
Chemicals	6	13
Tyres	6	13
Green Waste	5	11
Paints	4	9

 

Waste Recycled 
72 % of companies state that they do some recycling.

This graph shows that although only 12 % of plastic is recycled at present, 56 % of companies would like to recycle their plastic waste. The materials shown in this graph represent the majority of the waste produced and recycled. The following table provides data for the rest of the materials analysed.

Material	Recycled	Interested in recycling	Not interested
Paper	49	34	17
Cardboard	50	35	15
Plastic	12	56	32
Wood	41	32	27
Scrap Metal	48	19	33
Food	10	0	90
Oil	30	10	60
Glass	14	14	72
Chemicals	33	33	33
Tyres	17	17	66
Green Waste	20	20	60
Paints	0	25	75

Segregation and storage 
63 % of companies segregate and store their waste separately. Interestingly all of these companies, bar two, do some recycling. Of the companies that do not segregate their waste only seven do any recycling. 

It is unclear whether companies segregate and store their waste separately because they recycle or because they simply have the facility. It is also unclear whether the companies that do not do any recycling don't because they have no facility to separate their waste. 

Collection 
77 % of companies dispose of their waste through waste management companies. All of the companies that use local authorities to dispose of their waste employ fewer than 20 people, with one company the exception, employing 65.

For further information

contact Neil Thomson, Programme Manager, ReMaDe Essex,  email: neil.thomson@remadeessex.org.uk or Keith Smith, Green Business Forum, Telephone: 01268 294294, email: keith.Smith@basildon.gov.uk.