Recycling push pays dividends for Howarth Timber

Howarth Timber’s Scunthorpe branch has set a benchmark for sustainability after a waste management overhaul led to over 96 per cent of waste being diverted away from landfill.

Howarth Timber worked with waste management specialists Go Green over the last 12 months to assess existing processes and identify ways to reduce the amount of waste going to landfill.

The project involved a careful restructuring of the waste procedures at the branch, to ensure as much waste as possible was recycled – without impacting on productivity.

Staff at the branch were provided with more efficient waste segregation facilities, as well as being given access to the Go Green Portal, which allows staff to track all the branch’s waste and recycling.

Go Green’s business development manager Rich Welch, explains: “With rising costs and ever-changing legislation, Howarth Timber wanted to make sure their company was protected and they had full control over where their waste was going.

“In the year to date, we are achieving 96.6 per cent diverted away from landfill, which compares very well with our other customers.”

The results of the Scunthorpe recycling initiative further boosts Howarth Timber’s reputation as a leader in environmentally-focused timber trading, as reflected by the company’s launch of the Howarth Greenhouse in 2013 – a facility dedicated to offering the latest environmentally focused products with specialist proven training solutions.

Howarth Timber’s sustainability development manager, Jay Pickup, said: “We have been given the go ahead to apply the same principles to the rest of our branches from our MD Nicholas Howarth and are currently in the process of agreeing terms with Go Green on delivering the program.”