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Developer bans on-site plastic bottles
Housing developer Wates Residential will scrap the use of plastic cups on all its construction sites following a proposal put forward by one of its employees.
The company estimates the move could save around £4,350 per site over 10 years, while reducing landfill by 5,000kg over the same period.
Wates is piloting the proposal at its Abbey Area redevelopment in Camden, north London, after Denise Southard, a document controller on the site, looked at how to reduce plastic waste having watched the BBC’s Blue Planet II documentary series.
The issue of plastic waste has been brought into the public eye recently, following the airing of Sir David Attenborough’s series. Charity Thames 21 has found that 10% of items washed up on the Thames foreshores are single-use plastic bottles.
On the site, where Wates is building 141 homes, an estimated 120,000 disposable cups a year had been used previously. From now, the company will distribute reusable bottles to workers, brought from a local social enterprise. These can be filled up at on-site water stations.
Wates has committed to rolling the scheme out nationwide. The developer has 20 sites either live or in its pipeline.
Ms Southard said: ““After watching Blue Planet II and seeing the horrific damage that plastic can have on the environment, I was inspired to encourage others to reduce their plastic waste.
“Wates Residential has been extremely supportive in this and I am proud to work for a company that has embraced my idea so whole-heartedly. I can’t believe how easy it was to implement a simple swap from disposable cups to reusable bottles, and hope other businesses are encouraged to do the same.”
Paul Nicholls, managing director of Wates Residential South, added: “Reducing our single-use plastics waste is something we feel very passionate about at Wates Residential and this great initiative from Denise is another step on our journey towards doing that.
“We hope this commitment will not only drive change across our sites, but will also lead to new ambitions in the wider industry.”
