Drinks Manufacturer Seeks to Further Circular Economy Ambitions : Mitie Secures Waste & Recycling Contract from Lucozade Ribena Suntory

Facilities management firm, Mitie, has been awarded a contract with soft drinks manufacturer, Lucozade Ribena Suntory, to provide a complete waste management service for its UK sites including the manufacturing site at Coleford in the Forest of Dean and the UK headquarters in Uxbridge, London.

The Bristol based firm said that under the contract it will be responsible for capturing all elements of waste and recyclables process across the Lucozade Ribena Suntory estate including dry waste and skip services through all channels of the waste hierarchy.

This includes waste reduction, reuse, recycling and waste to energy. Mitie will also deliver strategies on bulk effluent streams, office recycling and commodity trading (card, plastics, metals, pallets).

According to Mitie, Lucozade Ribena Suntory is already a high achiever in waste management practices and its current recycling performance at the Coleford site is over 99% with revenue generation from routine commodities such as card, plastics and metals.

The drinks company already operates a closed loop system for the recycling and reuse of PET (polyethylene terephthalate).

Recycled PET bottles are sent from the site for reprocessing, where they are granulated by a third party. This is then re-introduced into the facility for bottle blowing by Logoplaste, a supplier that is fully integrated into manufacturing site.

However, MItie said that because Lucozade Ribena Suntory is focused on building on the success of its high recycling levels by reusing its waste and giving it further value, its own ‘resource not waste’ philosophy was regarded as the good complement to drive the drinks firm to 100% recycling.

Mitie added that this approach will deliver the best value for resource and commodity streams, develop additional circular economy opportunities and drive education and awareness across the business.

According to the company this can be achieved whilst reducing risk by ensuring compliance across all elements and providing out of hours contingencies for production needs.

“Lucozade Ribena Suntory’s focus on the circular economy and sustainability echoes the Mitie philosophy and provides us with the ideal platform to deliver further financial and environmental benefit across the business,” commented Darren Kenney, sales director at Mitie’s Waste business.

Leyton Powell, head of environment, health and safety at Lucozade Ribena Suntory added: “By using innovation, we can improve our focus on beginning to end of life processes, as well as waste reduction at the source.”

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