Essay: Increase the amount of recycling done at a JD Wetherspoon’s pub

Introduction

Waste is an important and growing problem and at JD Wetherspoon we produce large quantities of it every year. The company encourages methods which promote recycling and reduced energy consumption, however at The Capitol the recycling procedures are poor and an area within the business that could be improved with introducing minor practices within the unit. This would help the environment, encourage staff to be more environmentally friendly and would help the business financially.

Some of JDW’s achievements so far:

• Winner of the Drinks Business Green Award & Retail Week Award 2013
• NDC accreditation for ISO 14001 Environmental Management 2012
• Recycling Performance of Year 2010 – CIVVM Awards for Environmental Excellence
• Retailer for Commercial Food Waste Recycling
• Environmental Hero Award 2009
• Green Champion Green Apple Award (2008)
• High Street Recycling Champion 2007
• Carbon Disclosure Project – Top 10%

Recycling is one of the best ways that we can have a positive impact on both the natural environment as well as ourselves. The amount of waste that we create is increasing all the time and we must all take action now to help our future environment.
So how important is recycling to our environment? There is no space for waste. Our UK landfill sites are filling up fast, and harmful chemicals and greenhouse gasses are being released, so recycling is needed to reduce pollution caused by waste. Huge amounts of energy are used to make products from raw materials, whereas recycling requires less energy, which helps to preserve natural resources.

Here you will read how the amount of recycling within a JD Wetherspoon pub was increased over a 3 month period.

Objective

To increase the amount of recycling done at The Capitol, over periods 9, 10 & 11.

Background

Running a JD Wetherspoon unit generates tones, of waste each year which is inevitable, however we can ensure that we take steps to minimize waste going to landfill by recycling. JD Wetherspoon was named as high street recycler of the year back in 2007 and today part of JDW’s Groovy plan is to recycle 95% of recyclable materials over the next 5 years. During the financial year 2013/14, JDW pubs segregated and returned 9,179 tonnes of waste to our distribution centre, In 2008 we produced 32,400 tonnes of waste of which 6,700 tonnes was glass which we recycled and 5,281 tonnes of packaging (1,616 tonnes of cooking oil, 3,136 tonnes of cardboard, 19 tonnes of aluminum, 95 tonnes of plastic and 415 tonnes of paper) recycled through Daventry, leaving a total of 20,419 tonnes to landfill.

The percentage of potential recycling achieved currently at The Capitol each period is shown in the graph below clarifies the need for this objective as does the following statements; taken from a brief sent out to JDW pubs;

The below statement was taken from a brief sent out to JDW pubs
Increases in landfill tax (imposed by the government) mean that annual general waste costs are set to increase by 50% per pub by 2020 if we do not increase our recycling volumes. The landfill tax paid by JDW in 2012 was 1.1 million which works out at £2.5k per pub.

During the financial year 2014/15, the pubs segregated and returned 9,697 tonnes of recyclables to our distribution centre, an increase of 5.7% (524 tonnes) on the previous year. This included 5,623 tonnes of cardboard and paper, 3,299 tonnes of cooking oil, 547 tonnes of plastic, 38 tonnes of aluminium, and 190 tonnes of steel

THIS GRAPH NEEDS CHANGED TO THE PERIODS BEFORE THE OBJECTIVE BEGAN

As you can see from the graph there is recycling done at The Capitol but not enough and not to the company’s target of 95%. Currently the recycling bins are dotted about, there is no colour coding or posters to tell you which is which all in all there is no clear plan and it is not something that is followed up or has any real focus from the management team therefor it is not surprising that we do not reach even 50% of our potential. The bins are emptied each night and put into a cadge ready for the next collection day. On collection they are taken away and sent back to JDW’s distribution center, Daventry where they organize all the contents of the cadges before being recycled.

The company receives a financial benefit for recycling and this feeds down to the individual units who are credited financially for their individual recycling achievements on their profit and loss accounts each financial month which is what is known as a period. The company have also produced a Recycling tracker to help identify a unit’s achievement or loss on each category and this tracker communicates this information to the staff clearly and simply. Apendix 1

The tracker shows that Steel cans and cardboard is the worst performing category at The Capitol however all 6 need addressed in order for us to reach our 95% target.

The 6 categories are: paper, cardboard, Aluminum cans, oil, plastic bottles & steel cans.

Here is some facts and figures on JDW’s waste disposal taken from a document sent out to JDW pubs.

Activity

Before a plan could be determined a managers meeting needed to be held, an email was sent to all managers a week before the meeting telling them what the purpose of the meeting was and asking them all to carry out a stand back and look exercise at our current recycling processes and ideas on how to increase e the recycling currently done within the unit. At the meeting each manager was asked for their findings on the task that had been assigned to them through the email. The findings were as follows:

Manger 1: recycling bins are all mixed with different materials therefor the whole bag ends up in general waste. Staff have no motivation to recycle. Managers do not enforce it.

Manager 2: said the same as manager 1 but added there is nothing around the unit that talks about recycling, there is no clear process for recycling i.e. what goes where so really the staff don’t know what they are supposed to do.

The ideas that were discussed are as follows:

• Order colour coded bins
• Put pictures on the bins so staff know what goes in that bin
• Do an incentive of some sort
• Put the recycling tracker up on the communication boards for staff to see
• Get colourful posters regarding recycling put up around the unit
• Reduce the general waste collections to eliminate the desire to just put it in general waste, if there is not the room they will potentially think twice.

Action & support

• An email was sent around the other surrounding units asking them if they had any good suggestions on how to increase the amount of recycling in The Capitol. Unfortunately, this was not successful and no ideas came from this.
• An email to head office asking them if they had any POS available for recycling procedures, stating that I was looking for some posters that they used to produce a few years back. I was advised that these had all be phased out and they were working on a developing a new poster and to “watch this space”.
• A poster was put on the staff communications board telling the staff that the recycling processes within the pub were to be changed over the next few weeks in order for us to become more environmentally friendly. It also asked them if they had any ideas that could help to bring them to me and any ideas used the staff member would receive a £10 gift voucher of their chosen store.
• Looked at our recycling/waste organization, there is no clear message so the 6 categories were broken down plus general waste and decided on how to separate them. To make it clear which was which, the table below details the outcome. The coloured bins were then ordered and arrived 4 days later. The bins were all put together in a row along a wall as currently they are all in different places.
  • Category Bin/Cadge Bag
  • Cardboard Cadge N/A
  • Paper Blue bin Clear
  • Cans Aluminum Green bin Clear
  • Plastic Red bin Clear
  • Cans stainless steel Green bin Clear
  • Oil Cadge N/A
  • General waste White Black
• Posters were put up, like the one below to draw attention and detail some clear facts about recycling.
• Posters were put on the bins to highlight what went in them like the ones below, they were also put on the wall above the bin.
• On the bar level we set up 2 cadges, 1 for cardboard and 1 for all the full bags of plastic, cans etc. A poster was again placed in the area detailing how these were meant to be laid out.
• Choosing an incentive, in order to make it realistic and cost effective it was difficult in choosing an appropriate incentive as this was an overall team effort and could not be reported on individual staff merits easily. It was decided between the management team that we would break it down into each period (month).
  • Period 9: if the % of recycling achieved that period reached a minimum of 60% the staff would get a case of monster and a basket of sweets and chocolate to share that weekend Period 10: if the % of recycling achieved that period reached a minimum of 80% the staff would each receive a free meal each.
  • Period 11: If the % of recycling achieved that period reached a minimum of 95% then I would arrange for the pub to be covered all day and night for staff paintballing then a night out.
• Once all bins, cadges and posters were in place, we took the staff around the different areas and showed them the new bins and cadge layout and what went where. This was done as a pre-shift briefing and took 5 – 10 mins. We also told them about the incentive which they were all very excited about and the financial gain that the recycling would encounter which could then potentially give us more bonus through our profit bonus.
• Managers were told that they needed to monitor the bins daily throughout their shift and coach anyone not complying to the new processes.

Now that this was all in place, everyone was aware of what they needed to do and the potential gain it would have on each individual and the pub and company as a whole it was time to begin.

The reason I chose this objective and to take these steps is due to a number of reasons first one being that we get money back for recycling, knowing that we could achieve the targets set by the company and that it helps the environment. Talking to the management team and getting their thoughts and ideas through managers meetings, another was my own ideas and what I thought would work but through it all I took a lot from a fact sheet online (all-recycling-facts) which gave lots of basic advice one in particular was to start with yourself and by being confident in recycling yourself, your staff would be potentially more willing to try and follow recycling procedures.

I believe the procedures and knowledge introduced will help us succeed as there is now a clear plan on what needs to be done and what will be achieved if these procedures are followed. The staff incentive has already boosted the spirits and thoughts around recycling, already I have heard staff taking about it.

I viewed several websites to better my knowledge on recycling and get ideas, some of the facts I found which took my interest are listed below most of which were found on LSPS skip hire website.

Recycling centres throughout the UK are facing a big problem of contaminated recycling waste. Contaminated recycling waste is where recyclable materials are being mixed with non-recyclable materials, some councils are seeing as much as 8% of their recycling come in as contaminated which then means they have to sort through it all to pick out the non-recyclables, which is not an easy task.

This is an area in which the team at The Capitol must focus on as more often than not there will be mixed bags therefore we are contributing to this issue.

• Every person in the UK on average throws away their own body weight in rubbish every seven weeks
• The UK produces more than 434 million tonnes of waste each year. This rate of rubbish generation would fill the Albert Hall in London in less than two hours.
• The UK generated 200.0 million tonnes of total waste in 2012. Half of this (50 per cent) was generated by Construction. Commercial & Industrial activities generated almost a quarter (24 per cent), with households responsible for a further 14 per cent.
• Each tonne of paper that’s recycled can power a 3 bedroom house for a whole year.
• In the UK we bury 80% of our rubbish in landfill sites, Switzerland buries only 7%
• Tesco have signed up to donate their food nearing its best before date to food charities and have trialed this in several of their stores.

Some quotes I found useful and used on posters and communication to staff.

Pollution is nothing but the resources we are not harvesting. We allow them to disperse because we\’ve been ignorant of their value.
~ R. Buckminster Fuller

“Listen up, you couch potatoes: each recycled beer can saves enough electricity to run a television for three hours.\”
~ Denis Hayes, American Environmental Activist

Monitor

To monitor the progress, the managers were to check the bins throughout their shift and be vigilant of recycling procedures. At the end of each shift they were to write down how many bags of each category were put into the recycling cadge and if any were thought to be contaminated with anything other than the product they were meant for. This was then viewed each week to see how we compared each week and to look at any trends within the team. The results were then cascaded through the team by the communication boards and pre-shift briefings.

Period 9

The results were very pleasing and the staff had excelled themselves. It was found in week 1 that the general waste had gone down dramatically, there was only 2 bags across the week that had been mixed with different materials and the total number of bags sent back for recycling was approximately 5 more than normal. Week 2 the results dipped and we found more bags being contaminated, one member of staff had come to me with a suggestion of: why not have a recycler of the week and maybe give them a chocolate bar or something to keep the motivation going throughout the month. This was a great idea and I began this straight away. I spoke with the management team and asked who they through has made the most effort, they couldn’t really comment so I gave it to the girl who came to me with the suggestion in the first place and also awarded her with a £10 voucher for new look for the suggestion. She was of course over the moon and it boosted the spirits and completion throughout the team as everyone now wanted to come up with an idea and grab themselves a free voucher, Week 3 I was astonished with what I saw, I could have dropped another general waste collection it was that good. There were still a few bags that were contaminated but only one of these had to be put into general waste the others were easily fixed. The managers came to me with their recycler of the week suggestions and it was awarded to one of our new associates. Week 4 Followed much the same as week 3 and myself and the team were very positive about the result for the period. The tracker came out and we had managed a grand total of 100% of our recycling. The whole team were in high spirits and very proud of themselves.

Period 10

Continued on very well and much the same as period 9. They were awarded their basket of goodies for achieving and exceeding the target. staff remained focused throughout the period, the communication and the recycler of the week helped keep them going and with a free meal looming and most of my staff being students this was a welcomed prize. The tracker came out and again we had managed to achieve 100% of our recycling.

Period 11

the prize of a free meal was awarded for achieving and exceeding the target in P10, focus remained high however we did find more bags being contaminated with general waste and were therefore binned the first few weeks which was disappointing, however all was not lost the team were still doing great and came up with another fantastic idea to recycle. The paper table mats that are used to advertise our club deals are only one sided and generally binned daily. The plan was to re-use the mats that could be, when printing use both sides of the paper to print on and also use the 2 up function which meant that we could print 4 pages onto 1 sheet of paper. This was an excellent idea however it did have an effect on our recycling tracker as this then meant we were not recycling so much paper which lead to a decrease in the amount of recycling achieved. Aside from this we still achieved 92% which was still a great achievement.

Reflection

I decided it would be good to include the staff in the decision and communicated that from next week they could vote for the recycler of the week also.

Referencing

• http://news.lspsskiphire.co.uk/2014/10/the-importance-of-recycling.html, viewed 1st April 2016
• http://news.lspsskiphire.co.uk/2015/01/recycling-facts-in-uk.html, viewed 20th April
• http://www.explainthatstuff.com/recycling.html, viewed June 11th 2016
• https://www.jdwetherspoon.com/about-us/our-environment, viewed 13th march 2016
• http://www.edie.net/library/What-makes-a-Sustainability-Leader–Case-study–Wetherspoons-and-DHL/6625%3E. viewed 10th April 2016
• http://www.morningadvertiser.co.uk/Operators/JD-Wetherspoon/Wetherspoon-is-recycling-champion, viewed 10th March 2016
• http://www.all-recycling-facts.com/recycle-tips.html, Viewed 13th March 2016
• http://files.site-fusion.co.uk/webfusion91763/file/cswetherspooncarbonreportingcasestudy.pdf, viewed 23rd March 2016
• http://eds.a.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/eds/detail/detail?vid=3&sid=eb267382-4e92-408a-9850-e467692061b0%40sessionmgr4008&hid=4203&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmUmc2NvcGU9c2l0ZQ%3d%3d#AN=6907491&db=edsstc, viewed June 2016
• http://go.galegroup.com.ezproxy.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/ps/retrieve.do?sort=RELEVANCE&docType=Article&tabID=T004&prodId=STND&searchId=R1&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&searchType=AdvancedSearchForm&contentSegment=&currentPosition=1&searchResultsType=SingleTab&inPS=true&userGroupName=lmu_web&docId=GALE%7CA444299632&contentSet=GALE%7CA444299632, Viewed 11th April 2016
• http://www.wiseuptowaste.org.uk/recycle/hints-and-tips, viewed July 2016
• http://www.economist.com/node/9249262, viewed May 2016

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