Over the course of the last year, 494 tonnes of materials, including metal, paper, glass and plastic disposed of at four stations on the West Coast Main Line were sorted as part of the initiative, which is in partnership with SWRnewstar.
The recovered recyclables meant 54% of waste disposed of could be transformed into raw materials for new products.
The segregation officer role was first introduced at Crewe station to maximise the amount of waste materials being recycled. Following the trial, which saw recycling rates increase from 20% to nearly 60%, the role was introduced at Birmingham International, Carlisle and Stafford.
Based at the station, the segregation officer is responsible for separating waste from customer bins, staff areas and tenants. Waste is categorised into dry mixed recycling, food, glass and general waste, before being collected and sent to a materials recovery facility.
Coffee cups have recently begun to be segregated at all four locations to further increase recycling rates, with around 30,000 collected every two weeks.
In May 2024, Birmingham International station achieved the highest recycling rate of 71% of all four stations – an increase from 31% in May 2023 when the role was first introduced.
Sorting waste on site helps prevent contamination of materials and enables more waste to be separated manually. This approach supports Avanti West Coast’s efforts to maximise recycling – with the aim to reduce, reuse or recycle 60% of waste at its 16 managed stations by March 2025.
The waste segregation officer role is set to be rolled out further, with three more stations set to benefit from the dedicated resource by March 2025.
Collaborative
Melanie Hockenhull, head of sustainability at Avanti West Coast, said: “We’re committed to reducing our impact on the environment and recycling is a key activity to help achieve this.
“Working with SWRnewstar to have waste segregation officers in place at our stations is the most impactful way we can improve our recycling rates. We’re already seeing great results from their work, with more waste items being transformed into raw materials. We want to build on this by introducing this role at more locations, so we can better maximise the recovery of recyclable items and continue to drive sustainability improvements across the west coast.”
George Tilley, corporate account manager at SWRnewstar, said: “Avanti West Coast have proven that through targeted investment and a collaborative partnership with their waste service provider they’re able to improve their recycling rates even in the most challenging of environments. It’s been a pleasure to work with Avanti on the segregation initiative and we look forward to expanding the service offering at further locations across the estate.”
Subscribe for free