When you consider how much waste just one company can produce and send to landfill in a year, it's a dreadful thought.
Annmarie Watkins, Commercial Analyst, Buy As You View

Photo RTO Online

Graham Clarke, CEO of Buy As You View, is featured in the current issue (Jan 09) issue of RTO Magazine, the Rent-to-Own industry's leading trade publication. Download the issue.

Graham Clarke, CEO of Buy As You View, is featured in the current issue (Jan 09) issue of RTO Magazine, the Rent-to-Own industry's leading trade publication. Download the issue.

The company is investing an annual total of £23,000 ($33,000 US) in leasing specialist equipment for five of its regional offices to help them recycle up to 80 percent of commercial office waste which would otherwise have gone to landfill. As a result, Buy As You View estimates that it will produce a total of around 180 tons of recyclable materials a year and is encouraging other companies to follow its lead.

Buy As You View commercial analyst, Annmarie Watkins, said, "When you consider how much waste just one company can produce and send to landfill in a year, it's a dreadful thought. Multiply this by the number of companies that aren't currently recycling and the figures compel action. Every company needs to play its part in responsibly managing its waste and recycling and we would encourage them to act sooner rather than later."

Buy As You View has leased two machines in each of its six regional offices across the UK to assist with its recycling scheme. One machine compresses cardboard into one ton batches reducing the size by tenfold in one chamber while in a second chamber compresses plastic film. Similarly, another machine compacts the used polystyrene. The compressed cardboard is then taken away to be processed into larger bails before being sent to a paper mill where it is pulped and reused while the plastic and polystyrene are also collected to be reused and recycled.

Ms Watkins said, "Implementing a good recycling system isn't necessarily easy and does take commitment. It's not just been a case of installing the new machines, for example we have also had to modify the electricity supply to accommodate them. Another bonus for larger companies is that they can actually make an income by recycling. We don't do it at Buy As You View as we don't produce mill-sized bails of materials, but if you are able to then you can sell your waste to the mills so you are being incentivised for making a difference to the environment.

"We didn't need to do as much as we have done but once the ball started rolling them it was a good opportunity to really up our game in this field. It's taken a little while to roll the scheme out from the idea to practice but now that it is up and running we can all say it has definitely been worth it."