Why waste segregation is important and how balers can help

Right Waste, Right Place is an information campaign to help SMEs meet their duty of care obligations. Research for Right Waste, Right Place found that 56% of UK companies aren’t complying with Duty of Care regulations and that 94% of those are SMEs. A quarter of the non-compliant companies do not segregate their recyclable waste.

The Chartered Institution of Wastes Management is one of the campaign’s sponsors and is confident that businesses of all sizes can do a better job of controlling their waste, which also means controlling their costs, protecting people and the environment, and by doing so avoiding prosecution for failure to control waste.

When it comes to waste management, saving money at the same time as saving the environment go hand in hand, meaning that being kind to the planet is much more cost-effective to a company than simply chucking everything into landfill. According to a government report, ‘Prevention is better than cure’, efficient waste management could prevent around 16 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions being released into the atmosphere, which will also save UK business a massive £18 billion.

It therefore, makes sense to segregate your commercial waste into recyclable units for quick and cost-effective removal. You may even be able to sell on some of that waste to recycling companies, creating an extra income stream.

How balers can help

Waste balers can be used to compact and separate paper, cardboard and plastic waste, creating neat separate bales of waste which are easier to store and recycle. By reducing the bulk of your waste, you’ll need to organise fewer collections of the bales, saving you money.

Balers come in all sizes, from those that will produce small bales of waste to those that can handle up to a tonne. On the whole, vertical balers are for smaller volumes, whilst horizontal balers can handle large volumes of waste. Baling wires are normally used alongside most balers to ensure wastes are held together for onward recycling.

The differences between balers and compactors

Balers differ from compactors in that they compact waste for easy sorting, collection, storage and bundling, whereas compactors are designed to simply crush solid waste into a small compact mass that can easily fit into waste bins.