Bywaters Welcomes Influential MPs to Our Facility in Bow

With recycling high on the political agenda, a group of influential MPs came on a fact-finding visit to Bywaters’ head office in Bow on the 24^th of January in order to have a tour of our state-of-the-art Material Recovery Facility (MRF).

Bywaters Helps Educate the MPs from Across the UK

We were proud to welcome five of the country’s MPs, representing parties from across the political spectrum, to our facility in Bow. On the day our staff gave a guided tour of our operation to:

• Mary Creagh: MP for Wakefield
• Colin Clark: MP for Gordon
• Glyn Davies: MP for Montgomeryshire
• Rt Hon Robert Goodwill: MP for Scarborough and Whitby
• Dr Matthew Offord: MP for Hendon

All of our guests were keen to learn about sustainable waste management and how Bywaters transforms London’s unwanted materials into a valuable resource.

Bywatwers Helping to Drive Change in Environmental Policy

The MPs we showed around are all members of the Environmental Audit Committee, a body which assesses how well government policies safeguard the environment. They were particularly interested in single-use plastic recycling and the impact of the Chinese waste import ban on UK recycling.

Having the opportunity to speak to some of the UK’s influential politicians gave Bywaters a fantastic platform to give advice to individuals with a real ability to shape governmental policy in the UK. We’re always promoting sustainable initiatives in the UK and it was fantastic to be able to do so for such an eminent audience.

MPs Shown Around by Bywaters’ Managing Director, John S. Glover

After being welcomed to the site by John S. Glover, the Managing Director of Bywaters, the guests were shown around the company’s Materials Recovery Facility (MRF).

Ours is the largest undercover recycling facility in the capital. Our MRF can sort up to 140,000 tonnes of mixed recycling waste – which we collect from the public and private sector every year – into 14 different material streams. We are then able to provide high quality recyclable materials for businesses both in the UK and around the world.

Even more impressively, our facility is powered by London’s largest solar panel retrofit, consisting of a 4,000 panel solar PV array. This makes our MRF one of the most energy-efficient facilities of its kind in the world and demonstrates our commitment to reducing carbon emissions in London.

Due to the high quality of material produced by Bywaters, the MPs learnt that over 90% of waste we recover is sent to markets within the UK, with only a small fraction sent to China – providing stability to our customers and supply chain despite recent changes in Chinese waste legislation.

Bywaters’ Ongoing Fight Against Single-Use Plastics

Following the tour, Bywaters outlined its ongoing work to tackle single-use plastics. We have recently teamed up with Sky TV to raise awareness of plastic pollution in the seas through their Ocean Rescue campaign (famously illustrated by ‘Plasticus the Whale’).

Bywaters have also implemented a company-wide ban on single-use plastics, providing reusable KeepCups to all staff, and we offer all our clients advice on simple steps everyone can take to reduce their consumption of single-use plastics, such as avoiding disposable bottles and straws.

A Successful Visit by Prominent MPs

The day was a great success, with the MPs that attended asking many questions and listening attentively to the answers our staff were able to give.

Environmental Audit Committee chair Ms Creagh told the House of Commons the next day that the visit to Bywaters had shown her:

“The amazing work that the waste industry is doing to tackle our waste.”

Speaking of showing the MPs around our facility, Mr Glover said:

“We were delighted to show the Environmental Audit Committee members around our facility and tell them about what we do. As one of London’s premier waste management providers, we are proud of our achievements in recycling and sustainability.”