Since 2008 landfill tax has trebled, placing many organisations under pressure to cut down their waste. Andy Cummins, Senior Product Manager at Geocel, considers how merchant managed services teams can help their public sector customers cut down on plastic waste by offering the ecoSEAL system.
It doesn’t take much research to discover that one-use plastic waste is extremely widespread and very damaging to the planet – threatening ecosystems, wildlife and spreading toxins – as well as being made from planet-warming fuels. Much plastic waste is also sent to landfill, where it can take many centuries to breakdown.
While all sectors have a responsibility to lower their plastic waste, it is the construction sector that can make a particularly large difference. This is because it produces an estimated 50,000 tonnes of plastic waste every year. Sadly, much of this is single use plastic, including the approximately 100 million sealant cartridges that are sent to landfill annually. Due to the residue left in these cartridges, they cannot be easily recycled.
Furthermore, now costing £98.60 per tonne, the landfill tax is hitting harder than ever, particularly for public sector contractors that have stringent budgets. What’s more, public sector organisations are increasingly setting significant environmental targets, including plastic waste reduction.
With this in mind, merchant managed services teams are in a very strong position to offer their support and promote sustainable alternatives directly to contractors to help cut down on a local authority’s overall plastic waste.
Sealants and adhesives are essential for most projects and are regularly utilised by local authority contractors during their day-to-day repair and maintenance visits. Typically, each one of these contractors will go through multiple sealant cartridges a week that are then sent to landfill. When you consider how many contractors are working for a local authority, the number of disposed cartridges quickly becomes very high indeed. As such, there is a real need, and an opportunity, to find greener alternatives.
At Geocel, we have developed the ecoSEAL system, which substitutes the traditional cartridge system with a foil and reusable sleeve. It can be used in conjunction with a standard sealant gun and is incredibly easy for contractors to use – simply place the foil inside the sleeve, cut off the top, apply the nozzle and use as normal.
The sleeve can be re-used up to 75 times before needing to be replaced and it can then be recycled. Day to day, the only waste generated by the ecoSEAL system are the empty foils, which are eight times smaller and approximately 60% lighter than traditional cartridges. As such, adopting this method will dramatically lower plastic waste and allow organisations to cut down on their landfill tax.
What’s more, merchants can advocate that by making the switch to ecoSEAL, contractors do not have to compromise on quality. Many of the trade’s favourite sealants and adhesives are available in ecoSEAL foils, such as DOWSIL™ 785+, DOWSIL™ 796, DOWSIL™ 799, Painters Mate and THE WORKS PRO.
Ultimately, by stocking and championing green solutions such as ecoSEAL, merchant managed services teams can help public sector contractors to cut down on their plastic waste, meet their environmental targets and reduce their tax costs. Merchants will also be helping the construction industry to do its bit for the environment whilst also securing sales.
