12/12/2008
- Discounted bus travel in exchange for recycling cans and plastic bottles
- Hi-tech recycling point introduced at Ellon Park and Ride facility
- Environmental initiative aims to reduce landfill and boost public transport
Stagecoach and Aberdeenshire Council today (12 December 2008) launched Scotland’s first reverse vending recycling initiative, offering discounted bus travel in return for used drinks cans and plastic bottles.
A hi-tech reverse vending recycling machine has been introduced at Ellon Park and Ride facility, which is used by 123,500 people every year, allowing commuters to recycle their waste and get cheaper sustainable travel.
This new machine will accept plastic drinks bottles and drinks cans. It is hoped the innovative green partnership will reduce landfill and encourage more people to take greener public transport.
Consumers will receive a Stagecoach green point for every item recycled at the facility, which they can then redeem for discounted bus travel and other offers. A total of 50 green points entitles the holder to a 20p bus travel voucher, while 100 points equals a 50p discount voucher.
Brian Souter, Stagecoach Group Chief Executive, said: "Climate change is a major issue for our customers and we are delighted to work with Aberdeenshire Council and the Reverse Vending Corporation on an innovative project that is a first for Scotland. This is a really exciting green partnership that can help local people turn their waste into cheaper bus travel, saving landfill and helping consumers cut their carbon footprint.”
Stagecoach, one of the UK's biggest bus operators, operates around 200 buses across Aberdeenshire. Services run every 20 minutes from Ellon Park and Ride, operated in partnership with Aberdeenshire Council, and the facility helps save thousands of tonnes in carbon emissions that would otherwise have been produced by car trips.
Councillor Peter Argyle, Infrastructure Services Committee Chairman, Aberdeenshire Council, said: “We are delighted to be part of this partnership with Stagecoach to launch Scotland’s first reverse vending machine. This complements the existing range of recycling services that the Council offers and will allow us to review how this kind of machine could be used in other locations.”
Formartine Area Committee Chairman, Councillor John Loveday, added: “This initiative is a great incentive for Ellon Park and Ride users. Not only are they helping reduce carbon emissions by using public transport, they will now also be able to boost their green efforts by recycling on site.”
The hi-tech reVend FR 600 machine, which has a capacity to hold over 2,000 items at a time, is supplied by the Reverse Vending Corporation, the leading UK distributor and operator of advanced reverse vending recycling technology.
It uses advanced barcode technology to identify, sort, collect and recycle steel and aluminium drinks cans, as well as plastic drinks bottles. In return, the machine automatically prints a ticket with a point for every item recycled.
Steve Stothard, Senior VP and Chief Technology Officer with the Reverse Vending Corporation, said: “We are delighted with the pioneering and foresighted decision by Stagecoach, in partnership with Aberdeenshire Council, to help the environment by installing the first reverse vending recycling machine in Scotland.
“Reverse vending recycling is proven technology. It has been used fore over three decades in continental Europe where the mandatory deposits on beverage containers are returned to the consumer for recycling their used cans and bottles.”
The recycled material will be collected and sorted by local group Ellon Can-do, which is part of Aberdeenshire Council's Social Work service and runs projects and a day centre for adults with learning difficulties. Ellon Can-do already collects plastic bottles on behalf of the Council from public recycling points in the Ellon area and operates from an industrial unit close to the park and ride site.
Earlier this year, Stagecoach launched an innovative eco-partnership with Perth and Kinross Real Nappy Network (PKRNN) to offer a free a week’s free bus travel to parents signing up to use real nappies for their babies.
Stagecoach Group is continuing a major drive to make its own business more sustainable and attract more people to travel by bus, coach, train and tram. The company’s wide-ranging strategy includes investment in renewable fuels and cleaner engines, state-of-the-art energy efficient facilities, water and waste recycling initiatives and offering businesses green travel incentives for their employees.
ENDS
For further information, please contact:
Stagecoach Group
Steve Stewart, Director of Corporate Communications
T: 01738 442111 (office) or 07764 774680 (mobile)
E: steven.stewart@stagecoachgroup.com
Aberdeenshire Council
Linzie Carson, Communications Assistant
01224 664611 (office)
E: linzie.Carson@aberdeenshire.gov.uk
Reverse Vending Corporation
Carol Maione, Corporate Communications
T: 0208 660 7992 (office)
E: carol@reversevending.co.uk
NOTES TO EDITORS
Stagecoach Group
Stagecoach Group is a leading international public transport group, with extensive operations in the UK, United States and Canada. The company employs 30,000 people, and operates bus, coach, rail, and tram services.
Aberdeenshire Council
Recycling
Aberdeenshire Council currently has a recycling rate of 31%. In recent years, the Council has introduced a range of new initiatives to increase recycling across the area, including expanded recycling centres and points, kerbside collections, home composting initiatives, food waste collection trials and battery collections.
Reverse Vending Corporation
Reverse Vending Corporation is the first British company to successfully introduce and install reverse vending recycling machines in the UK. There are already over 19,000 recycling machines of the type supplied to Stagecoach Group installed in continental Europe and the UK and more than 90,000 reverse vending recycling machines installed worldwide.
Current Stagecoach environmental initiatives include:
Renewable energy
Stagecoach has signed a contract to source most of its electricity requirement for its UK bus operations from renewables. Electricity generated from mostly small-scale hydro, as well as on-shore wind and biomass, will provide more than 70% of the company’s required supply, with the remainder coming from cleaner, low-carbon sources. Smart meters are also being installed to help cut energy use as part of the £3.5million contract with Opus Energy. The two-year contract, which will dramatically decrease CO2 emissions, covers electricity supply to around 240 UK sites.
Energy efficiency
Emissions from around 90 of Stagecoach’s workplaces across the UK have been cut by more than a third after the introduction of a hi-tech energy management system. Gas consumption has been slashed by an average of 36%, while CO2 emissions have been cut by more than 6,200 tonnes a year. Developed by Vickers Electronics Ltd, the technology uses self-learning predictive programming, coupled with high accuracy temperature sensing. It takes over the control of the existing heating and delivers improved control, staff comfort and dramatic reductions in energy consumption, saving hundreds of thousands of pounds a year.
Sustainable biofuel
Stagecoach is testing the UK’s first Bio-buses, which run on 100% biodiesel. The bio-fuel is manufactured by Argent Energy Ltd from used cooking oil and other food industry by-products, which are from sustainable sources that do not involve the destruction of natural habitats or compete with the human food chain. The environmental project also allows customers to exchange used cooking oil for discounted bus travel Since the initiative was launched in October 2007, it has cut C02 emissions from the buses by 80%, saving 550 tonnes of carbon, and more than 21 tonnes of used cooking oil has been recycled.
Fuel additive
Stagecoach uses a next-generation fuel additive, Envirox™, to reduce carbon emissions and improve fuel efficiency. The additive, manufactured by Oxonica, is based on a well-known oxidation catalyst widely used in catalytic converters. The material has been re-engineered using nanotechnology to allow it to be delivered as a fuel-borne catalyst, leading to a cleaner burn within the combustion chamber. The additive has delivered more than a 5% cut in fuel consumption and an associated decrease in vehicle emissions. Stagecoach also currently uses a blend of 5% biodiesel across its 7,000-vehicle UK bus fleet.
Fuel-efficient driving
Stagecoach invests millions of pounds each year in the training of its driving team and, over the past two years, hundreds of employees have completed a Safe, Skilled and Fuel Efficient Driving programme. From September 2008, Stagecoach will launch a programme to ensure all of the company’s 13,500 drivers complete the course as part of a Certificate of Professional Competence. Stagecoach has also launched a six-month trial of a hi-tech in-cab driver system to improve safety, reduce fuel costs and cut carbon emissions. The initiative - launched in partnership with GreenRoad Technologies, a leading driver safety company – is being trialled on Barrow-in-Furness in Cumbria. The system improves driver behaviour behind the wheel through an in-vehicle sensor monitoring up to 120 driving manoeuvres, such as speed, braking, acceleration lane handling and turning. Data is sent in a continuous stream to GreenRoad’s web server and analysed, providing information about a driver’s performance. Instant feedback is given to the driver using red, amber and green lights on the dashboard and optional SMS or email messaging.
Carbon neutral travel
Stagecoach has launched Scotland’s first carbon neutral bus network. The ground-breaking environmental initiative, in partnership Scottish charity Global Trees, will see all of Stagecoach's Fife to Edinburgh bus network become carbon neutral through to 2013. Around 140,000 trees will be planted in the south of Scotland this year, saving 21,500 tonnes in CO2 emissions.
