Green Awards Profile: Jascots

Jascots is doing its bit to reduce the 600,000 tonnes of glass thrown away by the UK on-trade sector each year, thanks to the launch of a bottle collection and recycling scheme.

The on-trade specialist wine merchant is offering the service free to its customers with each delivery, a scheme which the company believes would be straightforward for other businesses to adopt.

“We’re not sure why other merchants have not offered something similar to their customers,” remarked John Charnock, managing director at Jascots. “It seems crazy that vehicles return from a delivery empty when the journey could be put to better use taking glass and cardboard to a recycling depot.”

Currently at the consultation stage with customers based within London postcodes, Jascots is running the scheme in partnership with Powerday, a recycling firm located close to the merchant’s west London distribution centre.

“It is so refreshing to work with a wine merchant who understands us and works hard to make our lives easier,” remarked Flavien Leyet from Restaurant Associates, part of catering firm Compass Group and one of the first companies to trial this scheme.

“Our Jascots account manager discussed the service with us and, as promised, when our next delivery arrived, the driver collected the empty bottles and boxes putting them into refuse bins in the back of the vehicle. It could not have been more simple.”

This initiative marks the latest sustainable step forward from Jascots, who achieved ISO14001 accreditation last October for its environmental management systems.

With the Carbon Trust calculating the firm’s carbon footprint last year at 150.1 tonnes of CO2, the company has committed itself to offsetting those aspects which cannot be reduced further through the purchase of carbon credits.

The merchant currently recycles 90% of its office waste, with the last year alone seeing it reduce the volume going to landfill by 50% and cut back its paper usage by 20%. As part of this progress, since 2009 the company has reduced the proportion of customers receiving paper invoices from 48% to just 8%.

With only 50% of the UK’s container glass currently being recycled, the country lags some way behind the likes of Finland and Switzerland, both of whom recycle more than 90% of their glass.

For more information on the drinks business Green Awards, click here

The entry deadline is 13 February.