The Ferndown Forum helps Arena go greener
8 August 2007
Much has been said recently about domestic recycling but now businesses are increasingly playing their part in the drive to go green, and the timing couldn’t be better.
It has never been more expensive for businesses to send their waste to landfill so recycling is not only environmentally responsible, it also offers the most effective way for businesses to reduce their waste costs.
The Ferndown & Verwood Business Forums have been actively working to help companies on the Ferndown and Verwood Industrial Estates to achieve their recycling objectives.
Leading the project for the Forum is Economic Development Officer, Stuart Burley, he summarised the situation: “Our research has shown that the vast majority of businesses are enthusiastic about recycling, both for environmental reasons and also to reduce their own waste costs, but generally it’s seen as being too time-consuming and impractical. We took these concerns on board at the Forum and tried to find a way to make recycling easier. By establishing the range of possible waste and recycling services available to businesses we were able to inform them about simple, effective and economical services which met their individual needs”.
The project has been enthusiastically received and has begun to show exciting results. One example is Arena Business Centre who has been able to increase recycling by 50% while slashing their waste budget by half. Arena subscribed to the service offered by Commercial Recycling Ltd. This provides a combined waste and recycling programme whereby all recyclable materials, such as paper, cardboard and plastic, can be collected into the same bin, thus saving the impracticality of separating individual materials. At the request of the Forum, Commercial Recycling Ltd were also willing to offer a discounted rate, which they have extended to all businesses on the Estates.
Sharron Domanska at Arena Business Centres commented: “Both the Arena Business Centres and the Ferndown and Uddens Business Forum share a mutual desire to place recycling at the top of the agenda. Recycling needs to be a way of life and with this in mind Arena Business Centres takes its corporate responsibility to the environment very seriously. The Forum has done a fantastic job to drive this important issue forward and implement effective changes, which have been openly embraced by all Arena Business Centre clients. Our collaboration with the Ferndown Forum will undoubtedly substantially reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill and initiatives such as this are key to the future, not just for the entire Ferndown Industrial Estate, but the environment.”
The Ferndown & Verwood Business Forums are publicising the waste and recycling services to every company on the Estates and are confident that others will take the lead of Arena Business Centres in seeing recycling as the most environmentally and financially viable method of future waste disposal.
