DHL’s Envirosolutions to expand recycling work

Now, its German parent, Deutsche Post DHL, is set to support the rollout of the trailblazing UK activities into other parts of the world during 2012.

Envirosolutions business director, Jos Daalhuizen, says that DHL brought together its UK environmental logistics and compliance work under the Envirosolutions platform in March last year. The aim was to focus our service for internal DHL customers as well as non DHL customers and look to secure new customers, through delivery of integrated environmental services for the whole of the supply chain.

His rationale for Envirosolutions approach to the waste and recycling market is that the business offers a broader look at the environmental services which a customer needs and can benefit from. He explains: A traditional waste management company will often collect waste at the back door, taking material away to a MRF but not look or think about the waste stream coming out of your business. We will look at how we can add value using the DHL supply chain wherever possible.

Competitive

Mr Daalhuizen points to a number of factors which mean that Envirosolutions can provide a more fully encompassing service at competitive rates. Our cost base is potentially lower because we have vehicles going backwards and forwards all the time. We also work with our customers on waste segregation at the point at which it is created.

He also notes the companys experience and knowledge of regulatory issues surrounding waste management and compliance such as the legislation covering waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE).

Examples of customers the business works with include JD Wetherspoon and Nisa Todays. Mr Daalhuizen notes: We are adding value by including all types of waste and while some customers do look at their process from a waste perspective, we look at how we can help them get better value through making waste management a better proposition.
Nisa Todays has over 2,500 member shops, he says. DHL Supply Chain has contracts for the retail support and warehouse delivery services. It was a logical proposition that we could bring waste back and offer additional value.

Previously the Nisa shops would get their waste collected by a waste company for which they would have a charge. We say send it back, we bale it, etc. and will provide the equipment for this.

Volumes

This means that Envirosolutions has a stronger role on the recycling side with larger volumes of material collected and a cost avoidancefor theshops. Paper and film were the focus for the Nisa contract. Trials were first carried out in London via a Nisa depot in Harlow and also in the North West through a Stoke depot and their popularity and success meant the service was very quickly rolled out and available to all the shops.

Mr Daalhuizen says that the company is not just targeting retail clients. We have been doing a very similar operation with JD Wetherspoon for several years and are now handling more materials – we are bringing back cooking oil, plastics, promotional materials, building it up over time.

On the business front in 2012, Envirosolutions will continue to look at offering services to more organisations, of all sizes although we seem to be able to add most value to medium to large companies.

And, Envirosolutions is ready to adapt as different services are needed, says Mr Daalhuizen. A notable one is on the organics waste management side where there is current government pressure to reduce and recycle food waste. The company is already providing an organics recycling service to one customer with use of what could be a unique process to the UK.

British Airways

Three years ago DHL won the short haul flight consolidation platform for British Airways involving the supply chain for more than 13 million meals per annum. Now it is Envirosolutions which is working on the waste management side of the contract at a consolidated base area close to Heathrow. All catering trolleys from short haul flights come back to the site.

In this particular case, reveals Mr Daalhuizen, we are using food drier technology as a high percentage of the materials is water. We have two food driers and the end product has a high carbon content, and it has been effectively sterilised. Full details of the process have not been disclosed but some of the challenges faced are seen in the organics sector elsewhere, such as the need to ensure the reduction of plastics in organics material.

We segregate what needs to be recycled and nothing goes to landfill, he asserts, adding that a large part of the waste doesnt require further treatment. Some goes for energy recovery and it is hoped in the future could be used to generate energy for use at the airport.
And, as to why food drying is used rather than sending the material to an anaerobic digestion plant, Mr Daalhuizen reasons that AD is not right for everybody and at Heathrow we wanted to reduce transport costs.

This is the first time Envirosolutions has used the drying process, and it claims to be the first such business to have brought equipment of this capacity to the UK with the intention of offering a drying system for organic wastes to other customers.

WEEE

On the WEEE front Envirosolutions is particularly active on a national basis collecting electrical items from civic amenity sites. Through its WEEE work, the company has strong links with local authorities and is currently one of the largest compliance schemes.

More contracts have been secured in recent months and Envirosolutions is hopeful of securing more with the DHL brand seen as being part of the proposition to potential customers.

The business director says: We work with quite a number of local authorities in the UK and have won additional work over the past few months. We consider it important that we have a good relationship with local authorities that we are working for and to provide them with very good service levels. In some areas we are working with EWC who operate household waste recycling centres in the south of England in particular, and also in the Midlands.

Promotional work has included support for the collection of WEEE in Leicestershire, one of its county council clients. There, promotional work has included the giving of scratchcards to members of the public who bring WEEE back to recycling sites.

Small items

One area which Envirosolutions is targeting is the recovery of small WEEE which is very low at present, probably in the order of 14% according to Mr Daalhuizen. He says that number needs to go up with the items being collected rather than being placed into a dustbin.

New developments include the launch of an education pack for WEEE – www.bigchallenge-weeesolution.co.uk. This is additional to the ongoing work by the companys local authority liaison officers and other initiatives such as kerbside collection rounds.

Alongside the compliance activities, Envirosolutions has built up a large database of information which covers millions of items to enable it to offer waste and recycling solutions to a variety of customers.

Overlying all its activities, says Mr Daalhuizen, is a recognition of the need to provide sustainable solutions for business and local authority environmental activities. We are here working in a supporting role with customers on their CSR agenda. Once involved, Envirosolutions finds it is asked to do more and varied work and our activities also include providing in-house services with advice including, for example, around energy requirements.

Going forward, Mr Daalhuizen says he is excited about the prospect of offering the Envirosolutions format, which is currently just a UK presence, to other DHL locations. We want to identify areas where we can replicate this. Being part of DHL will be a huge bonus in doing this, especially with DHLs GoGreen programme. This is very much about how we can be greener ourselves and work with our customers to help them go greener too. Envirosolutions fits well into that context.