The John Lewis Partnership has agreed a new contract with Liverpool-based recycler Centriforce Products (Centriforce), in the hopes of becoming the ‘first UK retailer’ to ‘close the loop’ and see all its waste plastic converted into new products.
Centriforce has recycled a proportion of the company’s waste for over five years but the new agreement will now see Centriforce reprocess over 3,000 tonnes of plastic waste from John Lewis and Waitrose outlets per year. The reprocessed material will then be turned into new products, known as ‘closing the loop’.
‘Pioneering closed loop arrangements’
The contract is part of the John Lewis Parnership’s plan to streamline its waste contractors and ‘ensure that as much of its waste as possible is recycled’.
Mike Walters, Recycling and Waste Operations Manager for the John Lewis Partnership, commented: “We want to be completely transparent in our approach to waste management and ensure that as much as possible is recycled and then reused in our own businesses.
“We are committed to keeping ownership of our waste all the way to its final destination, rather than selling it to the highest bidder, or losing control over what happens to it… We have declared our aspiration to achieve zero waste to landfill with a diversion target of 95 per cent by the end of 2013. Plastics waste plays an important role in that, but even more exciting is the possibility that it can be recycled into products we can use again."
The company has said that it is ‘exploring opportunities’ to use the recycled plastic planks, boards and sheeting produced by Centriforce for the chain’s new store construction programme.
Walters added: “We are working with Centriforce’s innovations team to explore ways in which we can reuse more recycled plastic products in our stores in future, especially for new store construction. We already have recycled plastic furniture made by Centriforce outside most of our Waitrose and John Lewis stores. Centriforce planks and posts were also used recently in an employee-led project to build a boardwork through historic woodland close to our Bracknell headquarters.”
Simon Carroll, Centriforce’s Managing Director, welcomed the signing of the new contract, saying: “By working with Centriforce, the John Lewis Partnership can ensure it avoids landfill costs and makes an income from its waste arisings. Furthermore, it is pioneering closed loop arrangements which provide the perfect demonstration of total waste ownership as well as underpinning the company’s sustainable corporate responsibility.”
Centriforce is able to convert 20,000 tonnes of plastics waste per year into products that are alternatives to wood and traditional materials, and recently installed its own in-house mixed plastics sorting line.
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