19 March 2010
United Utilities, which supplies seven-million customers across the North West with 93,000 glasses of tap water every second and removes the equivalent of 184 million toilet flushes daily, revealed plans to divert more than 95 per cent of waste away from landfill by 2015.
Setting these targets is proof we are committed to driving down costs, whilst playing our part ensuring a sustainable future for our region.
Waste from hundreds of sites include, sludge from the waste treatment process, grit and screening and incinerator ash, waste from construction works, operational waste such as pallets, scrap metal and plastic containers through to office waste like paper, cardboard and kitchen scraps.
Currently 90 per cent of the firms waste is diverted from landfill already.
Jonathan Dobson, sustainability advisor said, "Everybody has a part to play in helping our region become more sustainable.
"We have a duty to our bill paying customers to look at everything we can to keep our operating costs as low as possible and by setting tough targets such as these we become more efficient, and set a lead for other firms in the North West to follow."
In 1996 the UK Government introduced a landfill tax to encourage a move away from sending waste to landfill.
The tax is rising year-on-year and is set to reach GBP 40 for each tonne of waste deposited to landfill. It currently costs us GBP 1 million per year, and on the current rate of disposal to landfill this cost is likely to jump to GBP 2 million by 2013 when the tax hikes to GBP 72 per tonne.
In February we announced that bills would drop by GBP 16, with the average water bill to be in the region of GBP 359.
April will see us launch our biggest ever capital works programme with a massive GBP 3.6 billion investment programme, boosting the regions economy.
We already extracts energy from wastewater sludge to be used in combined heat and power for its engines at a number of its work sites.
For further media information, contact:
Shaun Robinson, at United Utilities press office on (01925) 237088
(please note our new 24-hr number) *All calls are recorded and may be monitored, or visit our website www.unitedutilities.com