Enviromental Issues

Environmental Policy

Vending Ltd, is a vending company supplying machines, commodities, snacks and food products and an operating and maintenance service for its customers. Vending Ltd seeks to ensure that this policy and its associated environmental management system is understood, implemented and maintained at all relevant levels within the organisation. We will look to integrate our environmental principles, programmes and practices into the management of our business. We will through our training programmes educate and motivate our staff to work in an environmentally responsible manner as applicable to their area of responsibility. We are commitment to continually seeking new ways to ensure continual improvement, pollution prevention and compliance with legislative requirements and to ensure improved customer knowledge of environmental issues associated with the vending service.

We have a purchasing policy that ensures:

• any wood products come from sustainable forests.
• the use of packaging is minimised.
• paper is sourced from re-cycled materials or from appropriate renewable resources and environmentally friendly techniques are used in its production.
• any cleaning materials have the least possible environmental impact and as far as possible are from a natural source or readily degradable into harmless products.
• any office equipment that is purchased is energy efficient.

Energy Consumption at the Top Business Park site is assessed and then actions agreed to reduce the amount used either by practices or equipment. The company is committed to reducing the amount of waste it produces by either re-using, re-cycling or otherwise handling its waste to make it easier to dispose of. Vending Ltd is committed to ensuring that vehicles used in its operations use the minimum amount of fuel and produce the minimum amount of emissions. The company fully supports the Save-a-Cup scheme and has Save-a-Cup procedures in place. We will carry out an annual review to assess our environmental performance against the following objectives:

• Reduce waste disposal.
• Reduce polluting emissions
• Encourage re-use and re-cycling where possible.

Save-A-Cup Scheme

How Does It Work?

The cups are loaded into the machine and drinks are vended or dispensed into them. When a company is not part of the Save A Cup Scheme the used plastic cup is usually thrown into a general waste bin and form part of the companies general waste which is removed from site and probably goes into land fill.

With the Save A Cup scheme cups are placed in a purpose-designed collection bin (Beca bin) or a cup flaking machine (Flaker) sited close by the vending machine. Both options are designed to reduce the bulk of the cups for ease of storage and to isolate the cups from the general liquid waste. The cups are transferred to clear bags during the normal on-site cleaning process and placed ready for collection in a convenient storage area.

Save a Cup will arrange regular collections. Your cup usage and your location will determine the frequency of collection. Either a Save a Cup vehicle, or a third party agent acting on behalf of Save a Cup, who is already making collections of other recyclables in your area, will collect the filled sacks of cups from your premises.

On joining the scheme, the service will be tailored, where possible, to meet your needs.
Where there is a storage or location problem, purchase of a Flaker is advised, as the flaked
cups can be stored in a smaller area.

After collection by Save a Cup, the cups are transported in bulk to a reprocessor. To reduce costs, no presorting is carried out prior to reprocessing. At the re-processor, bags of cups are fed onto a conveyor and through a hydrocyclonic washing system. Contaminants are removed using sink/float chambers. (Due to the similar specific gravity the greatest difficulty is in removing, foil and plastic film, one reason why we ask you not to put sweet wrappers and crisp packets in the bins.) The flake is then dried and made directly into a product or heated and extruded into manufacturing pellets.

Save a Cup commissions a variety of items, which are then sold. Pens, pencils and rulers are just some of the products made from the processed material (recyclate). Unfortunately the material cannot be used to make cups or other food contact products. Recyclate is also sold to other manufacturers to make their own products.

What are the Benefits of Joining The Scheme?

• With landfill tax escalating, real savings can be made on waste disposal costs.
• Companies joining the Save a Cup scheme demonstrate a strong commitment to environmental values and ethical business practices both to staff and customers.
• A step towards ISO 14001