Shanks urges governments to act on sustainable waste management

A second set of five-year corporate responsibility targets, including further development of sustainability as a primary principle, has been introduced by the waste-to-product Shanks Group, ahead of this year’s UN climate change conference in Paris.

Shanks, an international group based in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, in the UK, with a total staff of 3,600, states as one of its four main targets “striving to be the most respected waste-to-product company” by reinforcing its sustainability policies.

This is in line with efforts to reach a worldwide climate change agreement at the conference being called by the UN in December, involving carbon emission reductions, elimination of poverty and improvements in health and building security.

Shanks’s other three objectives centre on care for stakeholders. The group aims to lower risk by maintaining its emphasis on health and safety, supporting the communities in which it operates, and incentivising its employees to accelerate growth by making their workplaces safe and inspiring.

The company will report annually on its progress towards the targets.

It has already reported reaching the three goals in its previous corporate responsibility project started in 2010. It increased its recycling and recovery rate from 74% to 82%, almost doubled its carbon emissions avoidance to 1.41 million tonnes, and cut its serious accidents rate by 39%, against a 25% target.

Shanks now wants to see a similar green agenda adopted everywhere with state help.

Geoff Smallwood, its group corporate responsibility and risk manager, said: “We urge all governments to provide the environment in which sustainable waste management can flourish and to provide the policies and fiscal instruments which effectively direct waste towards sustainable waste-to-product solutions.”

Chief executive Peter Dilnot said: “We are already under way with focused programmes to ensure that we meet these ambitious new goals and I look forward to seeing the benefits they will bring, not only for our business but for all of our stakeholders.”

Further information: www.shanksplc.com