Case study 2 February 2020

A sustainable waste solution for Deloitte

The challenge

Deloitte is one of the largest professional services providers in the world, employing over 16,500 staff in the UK alone.

During a waste audit of their 1 New Street Square office we discovered c20,000 disposable cups being used.

Once this was highlighted, it was quickly acknowledged that something should be done to prevent this waste – a trial removal of disposal cups from the site was agreed.

Solution

To support the trial a cross-sector working group, involving personnel from various service lines and operational perspectives, was established. Before the trial started, the group was tasked with workshopping any possible problems and finding appropriate solutions.

Part of the overall solution was to, at relatively low cost, provide staff and contractors with a keep cup, as well as water bottles.

Outcome

During a waste audit in June 2019, only 18 disposable cups were found in the general waste and mixed recycling bins.

The trial was deemed as success and keep cups and water bottles have been rolled out across Deloitte’s regional offices.

In addition to reducing the amount of overall waste generated at the site, an additional positive side effect has been reduced levels of dry mixed recycling contamination.

Other information

  • Between July 2018 and January 2019, over 16,000 vessels were issued to Deloitte offices nationally.
  • As part of the Deloitte’s clear desk policy, uncleared keep cups were tidied away and if unclaimed, they were put back into circulation as once used replacements.
  • If an employee lost their keep cup or water bottles, they were able to purchase replacements via on-site vending machines.

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