Discard the "Dustbin of Europe" label

Having bemoaned the horrors of blatant rubbish dumping in Cairo – a city where recycling is a dirty word and where pollution from the city centre dump and offensive smoke belching from factories and traffic fumes permeates every space – I was horrified to read how almost 10,000 tonnes of waste (the equivalent of 851 bin lorries worth) that should have been recycled in Yorkshire last year ended up on tips or being burned.

Such headlines make Britain, labelled by Paul Bettison as: “The dustbin of Europe, with more rubbish being thrown into landfill than any other country on the continent” a laughing stock.

They also make us seriously question our commitment to attaining our share of EU recycling targets (50 per cent for municipal waste by 2020) which would save emissions equivalent to more than 89 million tonnes of CO2 per year – the equivalent to taking 31 million cars off the road.

Campaigners are calling on the UK Government to support and implement these targets to realise our vision of a low-carbon economy. As two thirds of all household rubbish can be recycled, we can maximise facilites provided by retail “champions.”

As businesses, we can also adopt responsible practices outside of recycling initiatives that can deliver both environmental and economic benefits.

For those of you looking for a starting point, the Carbon Trust’s SME Footprint Calculator will give you an idea of your firm’s carbon footprint – then you can look at reducing it.

For a comprehensive list, Business Climate Change Champions have produced an excellent guide, but steps we have already taken at Quest include:

• Turning down your heating – costs rise by 8 per cent for every 1^oC incremental increase
• Switch off equipment when not in use – avoiding stand-by modes can cut cots by 30 per cent
• Maximise natural light and reduce use of artificial light

Let’s all do something more this week as householders and businesses to help reach these targets and make us proud of our contribution