The revolutionary concept of removing bins from public-facing areas might seem like an unusual way to encourage simpler and more efficient recycling, but that is exactly what has happened in a trial run at our Beaconsfield Services (M40, J2).
The government’s simpler recycling guidelines have been in place since 2025, putting the onus on all workplaces to separate recycled waste before collection.
However, despite investing in bins that promote waste segregation in our food courts, a mixture of confusion from some customers and lack of interest in recycling from others has meant significant cross-contamination of waste.
The guidance in these instances is to treat all contaminated recycling as general waste, so we worked closely with our partner Reconomy Connect to rethink how we tackle this issue, leading to a trial of a new solution.
This bold plan involved removing all of the bins from our food court at Beaconsfield, taking the job of separating recycling away from customers and handing it to our trained operational team.
We’ve called this solution “Litter, We’ll Sort it For You”.
By taking the bins away and replacing them with strategically-placed trolleys where customers can leave their trays, we have simplified the process for them as well as reducing contamination of recyclable materials. This includes the recycling of cups for beverages as usually these are destined to landfill due to their plastic lining, but thanks to this new process, we’re able to separate the cups from general waste and have them collected and recycled via a specialised waste stream.
We also reduced the number of general waste bins outside and in the car park, which has had a positive impact with customers more likely to take their recycling into the main food court, saving staff time that can be used to efficiently identify and increase recyclable waste across our sites.
Before this trial began, our average recycling rate was 18% and our goal with these changes was to double that rate. Thanks to the ongoing collaboration of our customers, tenants and employees we’ve surpassed our objective and our average recycling rate is now 53%. Fast food packaging contributes 12% of total global plastic waste, causing 6 million tons of ocean pollution yearly, so we’re proud to have gone above and beyond in reducing our impact on the planet and set an example for the UK’s motorway network.
Thanks to thorough internal planning and the introduction of new ways of working, we’ve achieved this without needing to increase labour hours. Embedding our ESG strategy into the company culture was paramount to making this change work. This included introducing competition between sites through performance leaderboards and Site of the Month rewards, recognising the efforts of our employees.
We have also achieved cost savings by compacting waste, with has reduced the number of staff trips and bin bags required. This has enabled us to lower the operational overheads associated with waste management at Beaconsfield, making the trial a success in every sense.
Tom Dobson, CEO of Extra MSA, said: “This trial has shown the remarkable impact you can deliver if you try a radically different approach. We are dedicated to delivering positive change and transition to greener practices across our service stations and this is a big step in the right direction.
“I’d like to thank both our hard-working staff and our customers for the way they have embraced this new system of recycling and made it a huge success. Together we’ve proven that recycling schemes don’t have to be complicated or confusing and this has helped us achieve even better results.”
To find out more about the government’s simpler recycling legislation, click here.