Premier Waste UK First Waste Firm to Sign Landfill Reduction Agreement

The Waste & Resources Action Programme has announced that Premier Waste UK, based in Birmingham, U.K., is the first waste management firm to sign the organizations’ Waste to Landfill agreement. The agreement has been put together to cut the amount of construction and demolition waste delivered to landfills by 2012.

In deciding to sign up for the agreement, Premier, established in 1988, said that it feels that diverting 100 percent of construction, demolition and excavation waste from landfill is an achievable and realistic target. The company also is able to divert close to 98 percent of its clients’ waste from landfill.

Wayne Clark, Operations Director at Premier Waste UK, said that signing up to WRAP’s Halving Waste To Landfill agreement was viewed as an important step for the business and that it would help them demonstrate their commitment to best practice and differentiate them in the eyes of their clients.

He explained: "We’ve been banging the waste recovery drum for the last seven or eight years, so we were really pleased when we saw that WRAP was launching a framework to help the industry work together more closely and push the boundaries of what can be achieved. Disposal of waste to landfill is becoming an increasingly expensive option, so recovering waste in ever greater amounts is really the only sustainable answer in the long term – from both an economic and environmental perspective. We’ll be working to increase our diversion rate to 100% this year and we think this is an extremely realistic target."

Since it was launched in October last year, more than 40 organizations have now signed up to WRAP’s voluntary agreement - including leading clients, developers and contractors such as Land Securities, Defence Estates, retail company ASDA, Bovis Lend Lease and Laing O’Rourke.