Are you prepared for Wales Single Stream?

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Good morning

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and welcome to this episode of Ask the Expert.

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Today we're going to be discussing the ins and outs of some new legislation.

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It's coming to effect very soon for businesses and the public sector

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organisations in Wales.

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Some of you may know,

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but our research tells us that many people don't know

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that as of April 2024, the new regulations

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that will require organisations to separate key recyclable materials

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the way that most Welsh households already do.

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And when I say our research shows that not many people are aware.

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So we're going to change that today.

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To help me do that, tell me understand

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the legislation and what the earlier can do

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is a friend of mine, Michael Bosley.

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He's the area account executive and specialist in this legislation.

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Michael, good morning.

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Would you like to introduce yourself?

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Oh, hi, it's Michael Bosley,

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and I specialise in the account management of all Veolia customers

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and have been leading the communications with Welsh Government and

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guidance

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on this new legislation, which has been in discussion

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for the last 18 months and will now become

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enforceable next year.

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And there's a few details

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that some customers might be wanting to have answers to.

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Hopefully we can address those

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in this session today.

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Thank you, Michael.

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It's it's all part of our job, isn't it?

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The the education and the advice as well as delivering the service.

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So, Michael, I'm going to get straight into it

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and I'm going to start asking you some some questions

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and testing that expert knowledge that you tell us you've got.

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I'm sure you have.

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So let's you know, we here to discuss Wales workplace recycling and single

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streaming. The legislation that coming into place in 2024.

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But this, let's unpack some of the words in there.

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What is a single stream recycling and why should we do it?

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What are the benefits?

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Well, Wales

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has been the best in the UK

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for household recycling for some time.

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They have decided to put into legislation.

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The Wales's commitment to zero waste by 2050

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by enforcing some new legislation

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for businesses next year.

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And what does it mean?

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Who does it apply to?

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So this is a legislation

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that applies to all workplaces in Wales.

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Businesses, charities, public sector organisations.

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They will now need to start separating

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and sorting the waste that they produce

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for recycling

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in a similar way that we do at home.

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Okay. Wow.

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So stuff people are doing at home is going to expand into the workplace

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and that's going to have this impact.

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And it all comes in in April 2024.

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Well, that's not too long ago for far away, is it?

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No, there's a lot of mobilisation and advice and guidance that needs

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to be given to companies

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going forward, certainly for the last quarter.

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What we have been trying to do

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is reaching out proactively to customers to give them the guidance

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and react to some customers who have now started seeing

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the media presence in the last few

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weeks on Welsh television to advise them on

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workplace recycling.

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Um but these regulations

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sort of expand into

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several different stream categories, and some people

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may be getting a little bit confused of what they need to do

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and what they need to plan.

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But yeah.   Just wondering Michael, what are the benefits?

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I mean, you know, there's legislation coming in and it's going to follow

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through.

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But, you know, if I'm a business, you know, what have I known?

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You know what?

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the, why should I be interested?

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What's the benefits?

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You know, is it carbon?

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Is it cost?

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Is it is it recycling?

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What's going to happen because we do this?

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Well, as I mentioned before, Wales got a particularly good record

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domestically in separating waste.

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This this is coordinated sometimes

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a little bit differently depending on what area you're living in to,

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what local authorities.

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But generally speaking, we've we've developed a really good

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recycling programme domestically in Wales

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and Wales have just set out

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that commitment to be zero waste by 2050 to reduce carbon emissions.

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So sorting out

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recycling in the workplace will help

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ensure

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And produce high levels of high quality recycling.

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So it's about separating things in a specific stream

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so that the recycling becomes more than it has been,

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which can have an impact on our CO2 emissions.

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And to be honest, an impact on reducing costs

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for waste management also.

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And with that, we are looking at reducing

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the amount of waste sent to incineration and landfill.

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So it's taking the steps that we do

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domestically into the workplace

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and making it a legal requirement.

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So it's a real wrap around then. You mentioned earlier on and you shared

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with me earlier in the week the adverts that are running on Welsh TV.

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I think if we can will try and put a link to them in the

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in the in the comments below the feed because it is a great,

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great advert and really does get the message across.

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So regarding the

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legislation and it becoming a requirement,

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what happens if you don't comply?

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What happens

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if you don't pay a-heed to this legislation and you don't do what it says?

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Well, I mean, we could talk about the streams.

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What we need to do to comply.

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But Natural Resources Wales

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will be the responsible for overseeing these new regulations

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and in its role as regulator, they will monitor the separation

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requirements and the balance on waste going into incineration and landfill.

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Local authorities will regulate the ban on disposal of food to waste and sewers.

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All of that will be banned and enforced in the new legislation.

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So Natural Resources Wales will be employing enforcement officers

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who will be visiting sites to check on compliance

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following a possible reported infractions.

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And ultimately, Martyn, as you say,

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if the occupier of the non-domestic premises has been, has the banned

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recyclable material within their waste stream

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um they could face a fine of up to £300

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per infraction.

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That's, for small business.

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That's that's a that's quite a large hit.

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And you say it's per infraction as well.   Yes, infractions.

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So that means that if you have recyclable waste and your general waste

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and that’s identified

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per infraction, that's up to £300.

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But of course, as we're talking about separating those recyclable items,

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any wrong waste stream

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in the wrong recyclable stream is an infraction also.

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So everything needs to be separated.

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Now, as providers waste stream providers

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and we will have the right to refuse that collection

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because we are bound by these regulations in a similar way also.

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And we could receive a fine

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of up to £500 if we are caught collecting waste

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that we've identified as contaminated.

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So it's quite a well thought through piece

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of legislation then, isn't it, to try and drive the right behaviors.

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You know, this isn't you know, we're not it's not a

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legislation, you know, can be seen as restrictive.

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But, you know, as you said, you know, we've got to hit carbon reduction targets.

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We've got to look at recycling materials.

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So although it's quite heavy legislation

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to here, you know, and there are infractions and penalties,

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it is looking at the right behavior, isn't it?

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You can avoid being fined quite easily by doing the right thing.

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So so it's good in that sense.

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But to be clear, you know, and I'm

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not clear yet what are the banned materials from general waste?

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You said they could look in your general waste bin

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and find some recycling and that's a £300 fine.

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So what?

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What shouldn't be in your general waste going forward?

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So yeah, that is, there are sort of five key streams

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that we need to look at for most businesses.

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So if your business produces food waste of over

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five kilograms a week, you need to provide

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and separate and

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collect internally as a business that food waste

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then present it for a food carrier to collect

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in a separate bin.

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So anything over five kilos a week you must collect internally

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and present that separately for us to collect.

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Previously of course, many businesses have put that into general waste.

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Well, that can't happen.

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Paper and Card

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now needs to be in a separate bin for collection.

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Previously, of course,

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paper and card may have gone into what we would have called DMR or dry mix

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recycling or recycling container that now needs to be separated.

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So paper and card is now

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one stream on its own.

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Then of course that DMR mixture of tins

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and plastics needs to be separated into a different bin or stream.

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Metals.

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Plastics cartons what we might call tins

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and plastics that needs to be in a separate stream.

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So that's four streams

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and as a rule of thumb, everything that cannot be put into

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those streams to be recycled can go into general waste.

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Of course not, including any hazardous wastes, hazardous waste or other things.

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So those are the key five streams that each and every business

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will have to think about to collect internally.

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And how we do that could be a separate discussion

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and then present that for a waste carrier to collect.

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Excellent.

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So that's

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that's really useful information to get our heads around.

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And, you know,

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are there any other waste streams?

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You know, I'm thinking from my experience,

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you know, businesses, you know, they have WEEE they have,

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you know, that this lots of all the different types of waste.

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What about those is there anything about that that we need to know?

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Yes. So unsold and small waste, electrical electronic equipment,

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as you say, the WEEE product that needs to be separated,

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some businesses might fall into some of that category

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and some some may not on a regular basis.

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And any unsold textiles,

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but they need to be separated and collected separately.

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Some businesses have to make the decision

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whether they create this waste.

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And certainly through my discussions with some businesses to date,

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some will legitimately say we may not have that stream

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so we don't have to provide that.

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But but under further discussion

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and some quizzing on what they consider

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whatever waste they produce, you know, we've we've changed their minds.

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And when we start to ask questions about how they've come to that decision, maybe

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these Natural Resource

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Wales inspectors who will

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check compliance

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may ask these pre qualifying questions.

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And I suppose that goes on

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to enforce

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who is responsible.

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And it is quite clear in the legislation

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that you as the owner occupier, are totally responsible

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for separate collecting your waste internally

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and presenting that waste for us to collect.

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That's that's critical, isn't it?

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And that's, you know, clearly by definition who is responsible,

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who is accountable.

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And I was also just thinking that, you know,

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five kilograms of food waste, that's not actually an awful lot, is it?

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You know, it's

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so what Quite a lot of people are going to get covered by this.

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So, yeah.

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So it's weight capacity.

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Food is a heavy

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waste and

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it takes up a lot of weight in general waste.

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Other the things that people have put in, general waste

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wet cardboard and things like that adds to a weight capacity in general waste.

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So we need to reduce general waste and increase recyclables.

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I think anecdotally speaking to businesses who let's say,

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have had a general waste stream and a mixed recycling stream before

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and 70% of their waste

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produced is general waste, 30% is recyclable.

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And as a rule of thumb, we need to flip those statistics

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30% becoming

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general waste and the rest becoming recyclable waste.

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To simplify it in those terms sort of

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categorises, how we need to control

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and take out of general waste what are those streams that we can recycle

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and those heavy waste like food, food, food, food is heavy.

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And when we talk about the responsibility um

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the responsibility of the occupier and owner includes

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the waste produced by your staff that might be bringing waste in to work.

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Food.

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Yeah, visitors.

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So some companies may well

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by nature of their business will have customers visiting.

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Contractors, vendors, anybody that comes into your premises

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that brings in waste that you offer to take off them

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and fall into

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those streams, you need separate.

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So maybe, I’m a

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a manufacturer, small manufacturer, an industrial estate

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and I have 30 people in my workforce and they all bring in the snap

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of now don't know what the colloquial word is.

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I'm from Yorkshire so it's a snap that you bring in at lunchtime

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and you eat that like sandwiches you crisp packet, your cans of pop.

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If that's going to tip over into this balance you, you have to comply.

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That is interesting.

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And I guess that's

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where some people might not be seeing that they are in there in the in group.

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You are going to have to comply.

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Michael, we've got some great questions coming through.

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And I do want to make sure we get time to answer a few them, please.

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If you're watching and you've got a question, if you add it to the chat,

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we will either address it on the call on the video now

00:15:50:22 - 00:15:53:17
or we'll try and get a comment and a response to you

00:15:54:21 - 00:15:55:14
later on

00:15:55:14 - 00:15:58:21
directly through a DM or in the in the conversation.

00:15:59:04 - 00:16:01:04
But thank you so far for some great questions.

00:16:02:01 - 00:16:04:11
Michael. I wanted to think

00:16:04:11 - 00:16:06:15
a little bit now, you know,

00:16:06:15 - 00:16:09:03
we've talked about the legislation, we've talked about who impacts.

00:16:09:11 - 00:16:14:02
We would be remiss of our our duty if we didn't say what Veolia

00:16:14:02 - 00:16:18:09
can actually do to support businesses as they prepare for this legislation.

00:16:19:07 - 00:16:20:06
Well. Well, yeah.

00:16:20:06 - 00:16:23:01
And just going back on what we talked about

00:16:24:03 - 00:16:26:20
about that piece of discussion with customers

00:16:28:02 - 00:16:30:14
throughout the short period, and this is all about a guidance,

00:16:30:14 - 00:16:33:00
all about education, and it's all about

00:16:33:23 - 00:16:38:06
ensuring that that companies have the answers to the questions

00:16:38:11 - 00:16:40:20
that they've been raising and the

00:16:42:17 - 00:16:43:23
the delay in bringing

00:16:43:23 - 00:16:47:18
this into enforcement has meant we've been feeding back these questions.

00:16:47:18 - 00:16:51:00
So hopefully we've got an answer to the majority of these questions

00:16:51:00 - 00:16:55:19
because there are grey areas where customers or companies may say,

00:16:55:19 - 00:16:58:20
and I see some of the questions coming in, does this apply here?

00:16:59:08 - 00:17:03:04
And I say and essentially it's all about if your business

00:17:04:14 - 00:17:06:11
um in any way

00:17:06:11 - 00:17:09:22
creates anything that can be recycled as a waste stream,

00:17:10:20 - 00:17:12:23
you must provide

00:17:13:00 - 00:17:16:08
bins for a waste carrier to collect and separate.

00:17:16:15 - 00:17:20:10
So I've had many customers say exactly what you said.

00:17:20:10 - 00:17:23:10
Martyn. We don't need, we don't have a canteen on site.

00:17:24:01 - 00:17:26:13
We have vending machines

00:17:27:22 - 00:17:30:14
and people bring in their own food.

00:17:31:02 - 00:17:35:04
Well, you know, depending on what you're if you've got ten people, you might argue

00:17:35:04 - 00:17:37:18
you may not have five kilos a week of food waste,

00:17:37:24 - 00:17:41:09
but if you got 20, 25, it's all a little bit subjective.

00:17:41:14 - 00:17:44:10
And it’s all a little bit

00:17:44:10 - 00:17:46:17
let's let's try and analyse it. So the what?

00:17:46:17 - 00:17:47:22
What do we do?

00:17:47:22 - 00:17:51:07
Each business must look at the waste you're producing

00:17:51:13 - 00:17:53:23
and get the right service from your contractor.

00:17:54:12 - 00:17:56:13
So you've got to have an honest piece by saying. Well,

00:17:56:16 - 00:17:59:07
what did we bring in from our suppliers?

00:17:59:07 - 00:18:01:05
Are there products that come in in plastic,

00:18:02:05 - 00:18:05:00
whether and there's no way there's no minimum weight limit

00:18:05:00 - 00:18:06:24
on any of these streams.

00:18:06:24 - 00:18:09:11
The only weight limit is food at five kilos.

00:18:10:05 - 00:18:10:15
Right.

00:18:10:15 - 00:18:12:18
So the first crisp packet

00:18:14:01 - 00:18:14:17
Yeah.

00:18:15:02 - 00:18:18:14
So some business will say, oh the majority

00:18:18:14 - 00:18:23:08
of our products that we come in are packed in cardboard and are open.

00:18:23:08 - 00:18:25:03
So we will have a cardboard stream but we don't

00:18:25:03 - 00:18:27:20
have plastics coming in on the site and we don't have glass.

00:18:28:23 - 00:18:31:00
Well, you know, I've gone around

00:18:31:00 - 00:18:33:19
manufacturing companies and say, well, I see glass on the shelf there.

00:18:34:11 - 00:18:36:20
Oh, that's just one product that comes in every month.

00:18:37:07 - 00:18:39:05
A minimum quantity.

00:18:39:05 - 00:18:41:10
Well, how do you get rid of it?

00:18:41:10 - 00:18:43:23
Yeah, there is no minimum stream.

00:18:45:08 - 00:18:48:04
And it's fair to say that every business must go through every product

00:18:48:12 - 00:18:51:13
that they have and find a due diligence process.

00:18:52:08 - 00:18:53:16
So what does that mean

00:18:54:21 - 00:18:55:20
for your staff?

00:18:55:20 - 00:18:57:06
Do you do an induction process

00:18:57:06 - 00:19:00:14
by saying you've got to sign up to single stream objectives?

00:19:00:14 - 00:19:03:13
So now when you bring things into site,

00:19:04:03 - 00:19:06:22
you need to dispose of them internally

00:19:06:22 - 00:19:10:04
into the recycling stations that we will now

00:19:11:19 - 00:19:13:19
make up on the premises.

00:19:13:19 - 00:19:17:07
And so each business needs to look at the waste stream, the

00:19:18:04 - 00:19:19:14
that the,

00:19:20:10 - 00:19:23:01
the dynamic work force that they have

00:19:23:05 - 00:19:25:23
and how they can take away general waste bins

00:19:26:24 - 00:19:31:17
and include recycling stations to ensure that people that they

00:19:32:11 - 00:19:35:18
they have working there will when they have some waste

00:19:36:18 - 00:19:38:06
put them in the right receptacle

00:19:38:06 - 00:19:42:00
so we can put them in the bins externally for us to collect.

00:19:42:10 - 00:19:45:07
So it is about joining the dots um

00:19:46:14 - 00:19:50:11
So there's an education and a training that needs to be be followed.

00:19:50:11 - 00:19:52:17
This isn't just going to magically happen overnight.

00:19:52:17 - 00:19:54:03
It's it's quite interesting.

00:19:54:03 - 00:19:55:09
It's quite ironic.

00:19:55:09 - 00:19:58:13
I find that you know that at home, we all know how to recycle.

00:19:58:20 - 00:20:01:18
And I think there's a lot stronger level and degree compliance.

00:20:02:21 - 00:20:05:09
But my experience, I think same as yours.

00:20:05:22 - 00:20:10:07
I walk around operations businesses and you see that it tends to fall over.

00:20:10:07 - 00:20:13:04
And I think that's something to do with the time, people pressure.

00:20:13:04 - 00:20:16:11
They don't have the opportunity to to reduce or

00:20:16:11 - 00:20:18:18
maybe it's not as clearly as understandable

00:20:18:18 - 00:20:20:12
where they should put what material.

00:20:20:12 - 00:20:21:23
So all that needs to be done.

00:20:21:23 - 00:20:24:07
And I imagine that's stuff that Veolia can do.

00:20:24:19 - 00:20:29:04
And Veolia will help our existing customers and new customers do that.

00:20:29:04 - 00:20:31:23
So what what would that what does our offer look like?

00:20:31:23 - 00:20:35:13
Michael, what are you what are you hawking around the streets right now?

00:20:36:14 - 00:20:38:11
So it is it is about that.

00:20:38:11 - 00:20:41:22
So the businesses that I'm speaking to need to just connect

00:20:41:22 - 00:20:44:12
that dot about collecting the waste streams internally.

00:20:44:12 - 00:20:45:18
And what does that mean?

00:20:45:18 - 00:20:48:07
I mean, I've I've visited many manufacturing plants

00:20:48:07 - 00:20:51:22
that have dozens of internal offices with general waste bins.

00:20:52:05 - 00:20:52:17
And I suppose

00:20:52:17 - 00:20:56:19
the consensus of opinion is take away those general waste bins in every office,

00:20:57:04 - 00:20:59:15
because that creates a problem of cross contamination.

00:21:00:05 - 00:21:02:20
People will be lazy, maybe the signage is incorrect

00:21:03:00 - 00:21:05:01
and they will fill those general waste bins

00:21:05:01 - 00:21:09:00
and replace those by into your corridors or communal areas.

00:21:09:13 - 00:21:12:24
You have to plan that, put a recycling station.

00:21:13:05 - 00:21:15:24
We can give advice on with our

00:21:17:07 - 00:21:18:16
working partners

00:21:18:16 - 00:21:22:02
on examples of what those recycling stations may look like.

00:21:22:14 - 00:21:24:24
Um so that's one step.

00:21:26:09 - 00:21:29:04
Some businesses will say, talk us through what we can do internally.

00:21:29:22 - 00:21:31:08
So that's one thing we can do.

00:21:31:08 - 00:21:34:14
We can have a discussion, we can put you in touch with and give you

00:21:34:14 - 00:21:36:21
some ideas on internal um

00:21:38:01 - 00:21:40:08
recycling stations,

00:21:40:08 - 00:21:42:18
on the streams that you say that you will produce.

00:21:44:05 - 00:21:46:18
And then, of course, externally

00:21:46:18 - 00:21:49:20
we need to reconfigure the

00:21:49:20 - 00:21:53:19
the bins that we supply to you depending on your weights

00:21:54:08 - 00:21:57:06
and some historical waste streams that we have data on.

00:21:58:11 - 00:22:00:13
But essentially, what does it mean?

00:22:00:13 - 00:22:05:13
Simply it means splitting your DMR bins into two. Tins and plastics, paper and card

00:22:06:15 - 00:22:07:03
that.

00:22:08:00 - 00:22:09:24
Yep, nice and straightforward

00:22:09:24 - 00:22:12:15
and we need to proactively reach out

00:22:13:08 - 00:22:17:13
and send up service agreements for customers to

00:22:18:22 - 00:22:19:17
deal with those

00:22:19:17 - 00:22:24:18
two streams and then we need to deliver, depending on what we can.

00:22:24:18 - 00:22:28:05
What we estimate in is a glass waste stream.

00:22:28:10 - 00:22:32:07
We can deliver those glass bins to site depending on the size.

00:22:32:07 - 00:22:36:08
That would may depend on what the business say with their weight capacity

00:22:37:17 - 00:22:39:06
and the food bins.

00:22:39:06 - 00:22:41:21
Send out the food bins.

00:22:41:21 - 00:22:44:01
Those food bins

00:22:44:01 - 00:22:47:19
can be collected obviously on a weekly, a biweekly, a daily

00:22:47:19 - 00:22:50:18
basis, depending on the food capacity and the nature of the business.

00:22:51:00 - 00:22:53:17
Obviously, a food manufacturing business will have

00:22:53:21 - 00:22:56:14
a lot more food waste than maybe somebody else.

00:22:57:00 - 00:23:00:21
So it's having an open discussion on what do we think you'll waste

00:23:01:04 - 00:23:02:18
streams going to look like?

00:23:02:18 - 00:23:05:19
Because in some businesses they will say, we don't really know

00:23:05:19 - 00:23:10:11
what the waste stream amount is because we've always put it in general waste.

00:23:11:18 - 00:23:13:21
And of course then everything

00:23:13:21 - 00:23:16:12
else goes into general waste that doesn't fit into those streams.

00:23:18:05 - 00:23:21:06
It's talking about reconfiguring their pricing model

00:23:22:05 - 00:23:26:07
that we can discuss because general waste is the most expensive stream

00:23:26:07 - 00:23:27:12
to get rid of.

00:23:27:12 - 00:23:31:12
And as much as we can drill down the single streaming, like we said before,

00:23:31:12 - 00:23:36:18
it's about the accurate quality of clean streaming products.

00:23:37:02 - 00:23:39:07
We can offer a more competitive prices.

00:23:39:17 - 00:23:44:16
So there's an honest discussion that we need to have with customers,

00:23:45:00 - 00:23:47:07
and we can simply offer that range of

00:23:49:11 - 00:23:52:09
containers to collect those weight.

00:23:52:20 - 00:23:55:13
And I think we mentioned earlier on

00:23:55:13 - 00:23:59:00
it's a big mobilisation task.

00:23:59:07 - 00:24:02:07
I mean, I think out of our

00:24:02:13 - 00:24:04:02
local regional Cardiff depot,

00:24:04:02 - 00:24:06:13
we've got 15,000 collections per week.

00:24:08:04 - 00:24:10:15
So you can imagine the amount of work

00:24:10:15 - 00:24:14:20
and mobilisation for these new bins will take some period.

00:24:14:20 - 00:24:19:01
So we are proactively asking customers to engage in that discussion

00:24:21:00 - 00:24:24:16
and to start to change their matrix of their bins,

00:24:24:16 - 00:24:28:03
so come next April

00:24:28:03 - 00:24:29:16
they are fully compliant

00:24:29:16 - 00:24:35:07
and I'm sure inspectors on April 6th are not turning up with six penalty

00:24:35:07 - 00:24:38:12
notice parts to give out because it is an educational piece.

00:24:38:23 - 00:24:43:07
But the fact is those that haven't attempted to comply with the legislation

00:24:44:07 - 00:24:48:07
and will be liable for these penalties.

00:24:49:05 - 00:24:49:23
Fabulous.

00:24:49:23 - 00:24:54:03
Mike, I really appreciate your take on this and sharing your time with us.

00:24:54:10 - 00:24:55:10
We've got some good questions,

00:24:55:10 - 00:24:57:12
but I'm just going to try and summarize it now in my head.

00:24:57:24 - 00:25:00:24
We've got some new legislation coming in for businesses

00:25:01:17 - 00:25:03:11
and the public sector in Wales.

00:25:03:11 - 00:25:08:14
It's going to line up with how households have to handle their waste in Wales.

00:25:09:03 - 00:25:12:20
They're going to have to split out their waste streams a little more refined.

00:25:13:02 - 00:25:13:24
The reason for that is

00:25:13:24 - 00:25:17:12
we want to reduce the carbon footprint and we want to capture more recycling.

00:25:20:04 - 00:25:22:19
If you produce more than five kilos of food

00:25:22:19 - 00:25:26:01
waste a week, you need to keep food waste separate as well.

00:25:26:15 - 00:25:28:10
That will have to go into a different container.

00:25:28:10 - 00:25:31:12
They'll be a container for paper and card, a container for glass,

00:25:31:22 - 00:25:34:21
a container for tins and plastics, food and general waste.

00:25:35:07 - 00:25:37:14
And it all makes so much sense.

00:25:38:13 - 00:25:41:13
Natural Resources Wales is going to be charge for reinforcing it

00:25:41:19 - 00:25:43:09
and making sure that people comply.

00:25:43:09 - 00:25:46:02
If they don't comply, there is a fine, there is a penalty.

00:25:47:06 - 00:25:49:10
But I think the interesting piece that we've got there and I'm

00:25:49:10 - 00:25:52:01
going to pick up on a few of the questions areas is just

00:25:52:14 - 00:25:55:11
how many businesses are going to fall into that category.

00:25:55:11 - 00:25:57:17
And I mean, is every will effectively, isn't it?

00:25:57:19 - 00:26:00:18
Well, every business falls into the category that

00:26:01:12 - 00:26:04:09
the depth of streams that a business

00:26:05:21 - 00:26:07:13
might need to comply with.

00:26:07:13 - 00:26:11:03
I would argue most businesses will need to comply with most streams.

00:26:11:11 - 00:26:14:01
There will be some examples where some businesses will say

00:26:14:09 - 00:26:17:02
we really don't need food waste or glass waste

00:26:17:16 - 00:26:22:11
and if within their due diligence they provide an explanation

00:26:22:11 - 00:26:25:11
why I would imagine an inspector will ask that question.

00:26:25:11 - 00:26:29:18
Why don't you think you need to comply with glass streaming?

00:26:30:00 - 00:26:33:11
Show us that your products that you have on site are not glass.

00:26:33:13 - 00:26:37:05
I mean, makes absolute sense.

00:26:37:13 - 00:26:40:20
I mean, I notice one query that's coming here that has come up.

00:26:41:11 - 00:26:43:12
Do we need to have separate bins

00:26:43:21 - 00:26:47:09
or can we package things in bags and put them in the same bin?

00:26:48:05 - 00:26:50:16
Well, we can't do that for all sorts of reasons.

00:26:51:13 - 00:26:54:17
Number one, the legislation says they need to be separated

00:26:55:02 - 00:26:58:13
and in separate collection bins.

00:26:58:22 - 00:26:59:13
But of course,

00:27:01:17 - 00:27:03:03
in England I

00:27:03:03 - 00:27:06:04
think we have a facility whereby people separate

00:27:06:12 - 00:27:09:13
their waste in bags and can put them in

00:27:10:18 - 00:27:12:10
the same bin.

00:27:13:14 - 00:27:16:14
Now in Wales the legislation says they need to be separate in separate

00:27:16:14 - 00:27:17:01
containers.

00:27:17:01 - 00:27:20:09
And of course operationally you can imagine what the difficulty be.

00:27:20:09 - 00:27:24:03
We've expanded a waste transfer station in Wales

00:27:24:09 - 00:27:28:19
to comply with separating and getting a clean

00:27:28:23 - 00:27:31:00
recycling model as we can

00:27:32:13 - 00:27:35:23
to then separate with operators to separate bags

00:27:35:23 - 00:27:39:09
and open them up and check would be practically impossible.

00:27:39:17 - 00:27:43:06
So everybody needs to provide that stream in a separate bin.

00:27:44:10 - 00:27:47:23
So it is if you haven't got those containers already, yes, you're

00:27:47:23 - 00:27:51:13
going to have to take on those containers, but they'll be appropriately sized.

00:27:52:08 - 00:27:53:22
Yes, incredibly helpful.

00:27:53:22 - 00:27:57:03
People like yourself are here, too, to help people identify

00:27:57:05 - 00:28:00:20
what is the right size container for you in your or your location.

00:28:01:19 - 00:28:04:02
There's a couple more questions going to pick up on and then we'll close.

00:28:04:02 - 00:28:07:07
But an interesting one that's coming in on a couple of occasions

00:28:07:07 - 00:28:10:23
and we may need to go away and double check this to help them out.

00:28:10:23 - 00:28:12:08
Is the

00:28:13:01 - 00:28:15:03
what happens if the wastes moved from Wales

00:28:15:03 - 00:28:17:16
to England? Can it move from Wales to England?

00:28:18:04 - 00:28:19:05
Well, it's a really good question.

00:28:19:05 - 00:28:23:19
I'm not too sure I have got the accurate answer legally on that one.

00:28:23:19 - 00:28:25:23
So let's not commit ourselves.

00:28:26:02 - 00:28:28:09
But essentially

00:28:28:09 - 00:28:30:22
if you're moving waste, you need to have a waste transfer note.

00:28:31:15 - 00:28:32:05
Yeah.

00:28:32:07 - 00:28:34:11
So and every

00:28:35:19 - 00:28:38:15
waste weight that you move from your business is be tracked

00:28:39:01 - 00:28:42:17
and would it be commercially viable for you to store your waste

00:28:42:17 - 00:28:47:23
and transferring it to an English English branch to stop you recycling?

00:28:49:14 - 00:28:50:03
You know,

00:28:50:04 - 00:28:52:10
that that is a commercial decision and a cost decision.

00:28:53:17 - 00:28:57:07
But if you, if you, if you present waste

00:28:57:07 - 00:28:59:19
that your business is based in Wales,

00:29:00:12 - 00:29:03:14
it needs to be presented separately and collected separately.

00:29:03:21 - 00:29:08:04
So if somebody is asking can they separate their waste internally

00:29:09:01 - 00:29:13:08
and then separate it externally and then pick up those bins and deliver them to

00:29:14:07 - 00:29:15:15
England,

00:29:16:19 - 00:29:19:06
what for? Re

00:29:19:06 - 00:29:22:02
mixing? Wouldn’t make no.. it doesn't make a lot of sense.

00:29:22:04 - 00:29:23:00
You need...

00:29:23:00 - 00:29:27:10
If your business is in Wales, you need to collect internally, separate that waste.

00:29:28:11 - 00:29:30:20
So you've already separated it.

00:29:30:20 - 00:29:31:13
We'll get it.

00:29:31:13 - 00:29:33:19
We’ll get a good answer for you.

00:29:33:21 - 00:29:36:13
I think that's a great question that a couple of you ask there.

00:29:36:13 - 00:29:39:03
And it is an interesting an interesting dilemma.

00:29:40:08 - 00:29:42:15
I be interested to know what the inspector would say.

00:29:43:15 - 00:29:45:00
A couple of others that you know.

00:29:45:00 - 00:29:46:24
Alex, you've asked a couple of good questions.

00:29:46:24 - 00:29:49:14
Yes. Veolia does have

00:29:49:21 - 00:29:53:10
research into the volumes, the average volumes.

00:29:53:18 - 00:29:56:15
We can take that and we can help, and that's what we certainly use.

00:29:56:15 - 00:30:01:05
Michael isn’t it, when we talk to customers, okay, you're X, Y, Z type of customer

00:30:01:13 - 00:30:04:14
we know on typically it's about here, let's start there.

00:30:05:22 - 00:30:08:04
And Alex, your question there about paper,

00:30:08:05 - 00:30:10:17
and card and tins and plastics collected in separate vehicles.

00:30:11:07 - 00:30:12:11
I know Veolia.

00:30:12:11 - 00:30:16:08
Michael, you discussed there. We've invested heavily into our infrastructure

00:30:16:08 - 00:30:18:18
in, in Wales to, to support this, haven't we.

00:30:19:21 - 00:30:20:22
We have.

00:30:20:22 - 00:30:25:02
And it is, it is a common question asked. We’re in in the mobilisation process

00:30:25:02 - 00:30:29:07
about reconfiguring and purchasing and discussing

00:30:31:09 - 00:30:34:06
how we maintain the separation of that waste.

00:30:34:17 - 00:30:36:21
The fact is we are

00:30:37:14 - 00:30:40:08
responsible under the legislation to

00:30:41:13 - 00:30:43:14
ensure the waste is separate.

00:30:43:14 - 00:30:47:04
So there may be occasions where if recyclable materials

00:30:47:04 - 00:30:50:19
are separated, uncollected, we have to go through the commercial

00:30:53:19 - 00:30:56:19
trouble to reseperate it at our waste transfer station

00:30:56:19 - 00:30:58:23
so however we collect them.

00:30:59:15 - 00:31:03:00
Ultimately, when we process them, we need to ensure they are

00:31:03:13 - 00:31:05:03
recycled and separated.

00:31:05:03 - 00:31:08:01
But it is a good question and it's for people

00:31:08:01 - 00:31:11:01
in the commercial and mobilisation departments.

00:31:11:13 - 00:31:14:20
I'm sure they've been discussing this for many, many months. But

00:31:17:02 - 00:31:18:17
ultimately, however,

00:31:18:17 - 00:31:21:04
we collect things we need to maintain that separation.

00:31:22:07 - 00:31:23:24
Yeah, absolutely.

00:31:23:24 - 00:31:26:10
Catrin, you've asked a question about about bins,

00:31:26:10 - 00:31:30:15
and I'm sure Mike Michael will get in touch with you offline.

00:31:30:15 - 00:31:33:18
We'll take that further forward and then anybody's questions we've not answered.

00:31:33:23 - 00:31:37:05
I promise and I'll commit to we'll get an answer to you because we

00:31:37:05 - 00:31:41:02
really have appreciated you giving us the opportunity to hear from you.

00:31:42:10 - 00:31:43:05
Thanks, Michael.

00:31:43:05 - 00:31:45:21
It's been great to hear about the legislation in more detail.

00:31:45:21 - 00:31:48:06
I certainly understand it a lot more than I did.

00:31:48:06 - 00:31:50:06
And for those of you watching and you wish to find out

00:31:50:06 - 00:31:52:11
more, we'll add plenty of links

00:31:52:11 - 00:31:56:03
to the comments section today, as much as we can to help you out and help

00:31:56:03 - 00:31:58:22
you understand how this is going to impact you.

00:31:59:04 - 00:32:02:06
Because ultimately we want to get clean recyclate

00:32:02:18 - 00:32:07:08
and general waste that is not contaminated with recycled materials.

00:32:08:01 - 00:32:11:05
If you want to get in touch with us and ask for some expert advice

00:32:11:05 - 00:32:14:19
on your particular situation, you can fill out the inquiry form on the website.

00:32:14:19 - 00:32:19:14
We'll put a link again in the chat and we will be in touch with you here to help.

00:32:20:07 - 00:32:23:04
Our next episode is taking place next week.

00:32:23:06 - 00:32:25:13
They're making me work double time at the moment

00:32:25:13 - 00:32:27:23
and that's on the 14th of February at 2 p.m.

00:32:28:11 - 00:32:31:24
and we're going to be talking about the new Industrial Energy Transformation

00:32:31:24 - 00:32:36:06
Fund and the journey of decarbonising manufacturing operations.

00:32:36:18 - 00:32:38:08
Before I leave, I want to say a big

00:32:38:08 - 00:32:42:06
thank you to the team that brings this to you, Lauren Burgess,

00:32:42:15 - 00:32:46:11
Beth Mullen and Rachel Hunt, who particularly went out of their way

00:32:46:11 - 00:32:49:16
to make sure we were well-researched and I was well prepared for today.

00:32:50:04 - 00:32:51:03
Thank you all for listening.

00:32:51:03 - 00:32:54:11
You can always listen back to episodes of Ask the expert

00:32:54:24 - 00:32:58:07
at Veolia dot co dot UK forward slash podcast  hyphen hub.

00:32:58:17 - 00:32:59:09
Thank you, Michael.

00:33:00:08 - 00:33:00:15
Bye.