Have you ever thought about what really goes on beyond the walls of a prison? You might be surprised to discover that the public-sector prison service is creating a greener, brighter future for both prisoners and the wider world by diverting more waste than many areas with lesser boundaries. Waste management and recycling concepts have been established in prisons since 1998 and since September 2003, the service, like all government departments and agencies, has been required to have a sustainable development policy and strategy. Before then, the attitude towards prison waste was ‘out of sight out of mind’, says Derek Hannan, Sustainable Development Manager at the National Offender Management Service (and Number 79 in the Resource Hot 100): “Waste was viewed as inevitable and the quicker it was removed from site, the better. Since then, interventions have been introduced to minimise waste and manage risk. The policy is quite broad as every prison is unique in some way and a too prescriptive policy could hinder the core business.”Unlike many government agencies, the prison service’s sustainable development plan had to take into account a sizeable population housed in many estates, ranging from Victorian prisons, former military sites, post war establishments and state of the art, purpose-built prisons. The 139 prisons in England and Wales currently accommodate over 80,000 individuals who generate a waste stream remarkably similar to household waste, with a bit of extra food waste and a few more mattresses than your average residential population produces. In this way, waste management units at prisons face a similar challenge to those who work on the issues for local authorities. Yet, for the financial year 2007-08 the 73 prisons with waste management units managed to divert, on average, 41.4 per cent of their waste, compared to the average of about 34 per cent that English and Welsh local authorities achieved.Today, management units are operational at 90 prisons and where units aren’t in place, 18 more prisons separate cardboard and paper for recycling. According to Hannan, although the policy is quite broad, the general diversion methods across the estate are fairly straightforward: “All wastes are sent through a waste management unit where offenders sort the materials, such as plastics, paper, card, metals and textiles. These are segregated out for reuse and recycling.”Though public sector prisons with waste management units have a general diversion target of 35 per cent in their first year of participation, many far surpass their targets and have even been recognised for innovative efforts. Onley Prison in Warwickshire, for example, was ‘highly commended’ in the partnership category at the National Recycling Awards for its WEEE refurbishment and repair scheme and, in 2006-07, Maidstone prison in Kent diverted 40 per cent of its waste, compared to Maidstone Borough’s 18 per cent. What’s more, the prison has introduced further initiatives with the aim of diverting an astounding 90 per cent of its waste.Unsurprisingly, Hannan notes: “The public and local authorities are taken aback somewhat by the amount we have introduced. Most are pleasantly surprised and very supportive.” Indeed, in addition to establishing a great deal of practices in a short period of time, the service has also started training both staff and prisoners on environmental issues and many prisons have recognised the importance of partnerships, forming links with councils and waste recycling businesses. So, the public and the authorities are impressed with what the prisons are doing with waste management, but what about the prisoners – what do they think of all this recycling and composting? According to Hannan: “Initially, the comment I received was ‘You’ll never get prisoners to do that work.’ But generally, I find that they are very supportive and want to play their part. The prisoners take on responsibility and learn quite a lot, including heath and safety, which is transferable knowledge to any future employment. Remember, the prison is their environment and they want to keep it clean, neat and tidy.” Hannan indicates that “being confronted by waste really does put the issue in perspective” for prisoners and feels that they will carry their knowledge of waste issues with them once they’re released. Some have even been able to secure jobs in the industry.Moreover, because of the sustainable development plan, the prison service has tackled many other areas of environmental sustainability. All new prison buildings are environmentally acceptable and energy efficient, with the promotion of environmentally-friendly transport arrangements across the estate. Purchasing decisions are environmentally focused where possible, opting for energy-efficient products, goods and services and the use of recycled products. HMP Prescoed in Wales houses up to 180 prisoners and serves meals twice a day. In the prison’s second year of recycling, it received a diversion target of 70 per cent. Though the prison recycles everything it can, Rob Amery, HMP Prescoed’s Recycling Manager, says: “Food was one of our biggest, one of our heaviest waste products, so it was something we had to address in order to meet our targets. We looked at different methods and went down the line of a Big Hanna in-vessel composter and an IMC dewaterer in the kitchen.”The prison, one of an increasing minority of facilities to use in-vessel composting, currently sends the 60 kilogrammes of food waste produced each day through the dewaterer and on to the composter, whereas previously the waste stream was going straight to landfill. Food waste is now macerated and dewatered in the kitchen, which instantly reduces the volume by 80 per cent. The waste then goes into the Big Hanna, is mixed with sawdust, which is another product produced on site, and comes out as useable compost. Prisoners and prison staff alike carry out the process.Reaction to the new programme has been positive, Amery says: “Most people can’t believe that you can turn all that food into compost. They think it’s going to be smelly. But when we take them back and show them the machine, which is very clean, people are very impressed.” HMP Prescoed has been quite successful with meeting its targets and consequently can avoid hefty landfill taxes (though the Big Hanna, which cost over £12,000, will take a bit of time to pay for itself).In general, Hannan says meeting targets is difficult for prisons: “None of this comes without a cost and money is extremely tight,” he explains. However, success is possible: “The key is to draw up a robust business case, identifying the current costs for waste and also staff costs. Then, you have to factor in the examples of best practice that we have introduced at prisons and the benefits from these – both environmental and financial.”Looking behind the walls of prisons, it becomes clear that it is possible for communities to work together to divert waste, learn skills and save money all at the same time. Local authorities and the rest of us on the other side could really benefit from picking up some of the actions in the waste management methodology carried out in prisons. Maybe it’s time to join forces and make it green on both sides.