Make sustainability your business legacy

Sharing Experience: David Dodds, Sackers

Companies of all sizes are now all working to better protect the environment, from introducing electric vehicles to a full net-zero strategy, and business leaders should think of this work as building a legacy.

After all, what better legacy can there be than protecting the planet for future generations?

Sackers leading the way

Our business – metal and waste management – contributes to a sustainability legacy in two distinct but equally important ways.

• Our commercial waste management service is helping businesses across Suffolk to reduce their own carbon footprint.
• We have committed our business to reach its carbon-neutral, net-zero target by 2040, ten years before the Government target.

Disposing of your waste responsibly

Commercial waste management has come a long way, with much less of your waste ending up at landfill than ever before.

Our plant at Blakenham, near Ipswich, is proud of the numbers we achieve for clients. Generally speaking, only 3-5% of the commercial waste we receive ends up at landfill. Of the remainder, much of it is recycled and some is used for energy production, be it from non-recyclable plastic or other waste.

We’d like all the waste to be recycled or used for energy, but we must be realistic – some things cannot be processed, like hazardous waste and asbestos.

When you consider those top-level numbers for a moment, you see how your business waste can end up making a positive impact on recycling, or renewable energy. We help you to be more sustainable and can play a key role in your journey to net zero.

To put this in context, last year, we processed 92,141 tonnes of scrap, amounting to 396,000 tonnes of CO2 savings. We became so efficient by investing in new kit that extracts more value from waste, by creating purer ‘piles’ that go on to recycling, or energy processes.

We’re proud of our role in helping local businesses go greener, and offer free waste management audits so that you can see the potential for yourself. Our customers can access our portal, and this includes carbon reporting on their loads.

Sackers’ carbon-neutral journey

It would be pointless to be so efficient at disposing of our customers’ waste, if we were not driving down our own carbon usage. For that reason, we have committed to net zero early – 2040 – and ensure our team is on board with our goal.

We recognise we cannot achieve this overnight, but by putting the foundations in place early, we begin to build from the ground up until we reach our target. Adding solar panels, moving to electric-powered vehicles over time, and working only with suppliers committed to their own net-zero journey, is all part of our strategy.

Our work makes a difference now, but we know that when we reach net-zero, and by helping our customers do the same, we leave the most important legacy of all.