The Code is run by the secondary resources market development agency, London Remade, which will be working with Ford to improve the sustainability of its business practices.
Ford has a significant presence in London, with a large diesel engine plant in the borough of Barking and Dagenham. The company has already had a number of waste recycling schemes for its tyres, plastics, wood pallets and glass over the past ten years. Last year, the company diverted about 19,000 tonnes of material from landfill. The Procurement Code will see Ford aiming to buy more recycled products.
Commenting on Ford's involvement in the scheme, manufacturing engineer Ben Diggins said: “We have a comprehensive programme nationwide of recycling initiatives but this is the first green procurement code that we have come across. With the help of London Remade we hope to investigate ways we can buy recycled materials, possibly even made from our own waste.”
London Remade will be looking to find markets for waste products including a plastic aggregate derived from plastic and quarry waste. Currently, a trial of 80 tonnes of this aggregate is being laid at test sites in Greenwich and at Ford's Dagenham site.
Hugh Carr-Harris, Chief Executive of London Remade, said: “The Mayor's Green Procurement Code has been a huge success. The fact that the Ford Motor Company is our 200th signatory is symbolic of the type of organisations that are now starting to complete the recycling loop by buying recycled.”
Ford-owned luxury car manufacturer Jaguar has a relationship with the market development agency set up by the Merseyside Waste Disposal Authority, the Clean Merseyside Centre. Three tones of waste plastic packaging from components used at the Halewood plant goes to Plastic Reclamation in St Helens each month.
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