B&M Waste Services has continued to extend the scope of its sustainability programme since 2011 when it was awarded Carbon Neutrality status for the first time. It was one of the first waste management businesses to achieve this accolade and its confidential waste arm, B&M Secure Shredding followed in its footsteps, achieving Carbon Neutrality status in 2019.
This week, the group’s ongoing efforts have resulted in an extraordinary double award of Carbon Neutral Plus status to both B&M Waste Services and B&M Secure Shredding. This too is a first for a UK business in the sector.
Since achieving Carbon Neutrality to the British Standards Industry (BSI)’s Publicly Available Specification (PAS) 2060, B&M Waste Services has offset over twenty-nine thousand tonnes of Carbon Dioxide by supporting Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) certified clean energy projects around the world – including land-fill gas reclaim projects. It has supported projects in Indonesia, Brazil, China Turkey and India and, closer to home, extensive tree planting in the North West region, predominantly in schools and across community sites. As a Carbon Neutral Plus organisation, it has pledged to further increase its project spend by 10% in the coming year to ensure that it offsets more Carbon than it emits.
The family-owned company continues to significantly lower its emissions year-on-year through its commitment to reducing its own energy consumption. It has focussed on cutting building and transport fleet energy through a variety of measures which is supported by its ISO 14001:2015 Environmental Management Standard certification. This has meant that whilst the business continues to grow, emissions have reduced considerably. Emissions per employee have reduced by 35.23% and emissions per £M turnover have decreased by 54% since the 2010 baseline.
Not only does B&M Waste Services put sustainability at the heart of its own operations, but it is also extremely proactive in helping its customers improve their own environmental impact. Its ‘Simple Swaps Audit’ initiative continues to help companies it works with to not only recycle or reuse their waste but to make simple swaps and purchasing changes to minimise waste output and reduce their Carbon Footprint.
Amber Greenhalgh, Director at B&M Waste, said: “We work with Carbon Footprint Ltd. to assess the Carbon Footprint of the business using a formal Carbon Management Plan, which documents Carbon reduction targets year-on-year. We are delighted to add the prestigious Carbon Neutral Plus stamp to our list of accolades for our secure shredding and waste services businesses.”
Carbon Footprint Client Director, Dr Wendy Buckley, commented: “B&M continues its fantastic commitment to climate change mitigation, and it is particularly good to see them not only further reducing their own Carbon emissions by impressive amounts but proactively educating its clients to reduce their own.”
