WRAP Launches Two Projects to Explore SME Recycling Opportunities

The Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP), a U.K.-based environmental agency, has undertaken two pilot projects that will explore ways to overcome barriers to recycling for small and medium sized businesses.

The projects, managed by WRAP, will be funded by Defra as part of its Commercial and Industrial Waste program.

One project will operate at two business parks near Bristol, U.K., where steel storage containers to collect the recyclables will be located in accessible places at each business park. Businesses that sign up for the program will be able to recycle glass, cardboard, paper, cans and plastic bottles. Incentives such as free waste reviews and free glass collection will be used to attract businesses to the scheme.

The second project will trial a new model using a bring bank site adjacent to a cash and carry warehouse on Merseyside. This system is similar to those successfully used at Household Waste and Recycling Centres across the country. The Merseyside trade recycling centre will operate on a membership basis and provide SMEs with a viable, cost-effective opportunity to recycle their waste. SMEs will be able to sign up to the scheme via a bespoke website, and will be able to recycle paper, cardboard, rigid and flexible plastics, and WEEE.

WRAP will be reviewing the pilots after six months of operation and if successful, will be encouraging the roll out these service models more widely.

“We hope that these schemes will overcome some of the barriers encountered previously by SMEs and make it easier for small businesses to recycle their waste. We look forward to the results of the trials,” says Linda Crichton, a spokeswoman for WRAP.