The amount of waste generated by Guardian News & Media (GNM) in the financial year ending March 2014 was up by 4% on the previous year although the business still sends less than 0.05% of its waste direct to landfill.
Print waste footprint
Overall, our print sites now recycle 93% of all waste, compared to 94% last year. The waste produced at the print sites increased by 7% and the amount of hazardous waste generated went up by 16%. These increases are mostly down to the rise in the number of third-party, short-run jobs, that use more cleaning products and require more maintenance. The amount of general waste produced at the print sites was down by 6%.
Business and editorial waste footprint
Our Kings Place office increased general waste by 11% and recycling dropped from 77% to 75%. Office waste has a relatively low environmental impact compared with our other activities, but how we deal with it matters to our staff. Our workplace team is looking at the waste disposal facilities available at the moment and they will be launching a new awareness campaign in the coming year.
Digital waste footprint
The enterprise technology team has reviewed how we dispose of IT equipment that is no longer required, and has appointed a new IT waste service partner for the UK. This partner organises the resale or reuse of equipment. If that's not possible, it is broken down into smaller parts that can be reused and then recycled. All data is wiped to the US Department of Defence standard of seven wipes and we are provided with an online audit trail. This year we will be appointing IT waste service partners for our US and Australian operations.
