Most food companies have modernised their working practices in recent years and become more environmentally responsible, but increases in landfill tax mean many can still make major cost savings by introducing new recycling procedures, according to workplace equipment provider Slingsby.

Landfill tax increased by 25 per cent last year, meaning commercial organisations now pay £40 a tonne to send waste to landfill, and this charge is set to increase to £48 a tonne this year, and continue rising by £8 a year until April 2013.

Lee Wright, marketing director of Slingsby, said: “Any businesses or other organisations, regardless of size, that fail to recycle are being penalised financially by the government through substantially increased waste disposal costs and these now have a direct impact on the bottom line.

“As a result, we’re seeing increasing numbers of organisations introducing at-source recycling programmes, which are very simple to put in place and mean that waste is sorted before it leaves the premises so that it is quick and efficient to recycle.

“Moving forward, it is likely that legislation will be introduced that makes these types of schemes a legal requirement in the same way that there are laws governing hazardous waste.”

Wright added: “In addition to saving money, reducing the amount of waste that is sent to landfill sites has a positive impact on the environment because it reduces the amount of methane and other gas emissions that these sites emit.”

Slingsby supplies a range of recycling stations that enable businesses and other organisations to quickly and easily introduce simple at-source recycling schemes.

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