Tiglin’s ‘shining’ example

TIGLIN provides assistance to those in need. From 28 Pearse Street and operating a 7 day a week day service onsite looking after the needs of some of the most vulnerable people in our community while offer food to take away to  over two hundred meals  to people in homelessness, poverty & addiction. A lot of the donations come on a daily basis by the wonderful people at Foodcloud.

We first made contact with Tiglin when a tweet was picked up by our marketing team. Tiglin had huge frustrations with the cost of their waste and how it was being handled. Small bins, all general waste, being contaminated by the public was a particular recurring problem. The City Bin Co.’s John Farrell went to meet the front man of this organisation Ger Ganly and discussed how we could help them to take a more sustainable approach with their waste management. 

The result is that The Light House now has bins that are fit for purpose, with locks on them that people can’t ‘flytip’ into anymore. They have also added a compost bin to help with the segregation of this waste. The team is committed to their Earth Day Pledge and as a result of our work here, Tiglin have engaged with The City Bin Co. across all their sites.

Ger Ganley – A Unique Perspective

My name is Gerard Ganley and I have the unique opportunity of working and helping two amazing charities called Tiglin Challenge & Dublin Christian Mission. Tiglin Challenge & Dublin Christian Mission have services that help people who are disadvantaged and often crippled by addiction, homelessness, mental health issues. Dublin Christian Mission is mainly based in Dublin and Tiglin has services in Dublin, Wicklow & Kildare. 

We recently had a waste management/collection issue at one of our premises and our Chairman Aubrey Mc Carthy reached out to waste management companies via social media twitter to ask for help. The City Bin Co. and particularly John Farrell (Client Innovation Manager) got back in contact with us to help and during our conversations John and the company have agreed to support us and help us with reducing our general waste and become much more greener to the environment. When I first discussed about trying to reduce waste, damage to environment and costs it was a no brainer to take this support and help. 

This opportunity to reduce, recycle waste and be friendlier to society made me think of when I was 14 years old and losing my father and taking the wrong road that was leading to many wasted years of drug addiction. For many of those years I was very often told by others that I was a waster, I believed most times that I was a waster and felt like a piece of rubbish. From the age of 14 years old to the age of 28 years old I lived for drugs, my life was controlled and consumed by drugs and alcohol. I was a chronic heroin and crack cocaine addict at a young age of 22 years old. Life became more and more of a mess as the years rolled on and at age 28 years old I had became homeless on the streets of Dublin, and life was extremely difficult. I had decided through the help of a few individuals that I would get treatment and seek help. I went to a similar program as Tiglin and found a life beyond addiction thank God. Throughout the years since completing that residential program I’ve completed 2 higher diplomas, a degree, got married and have three beautiful children. I’ve worked helping those who have been crippled by addiction and who feel that their life is wasting away or like my own story maybe feel like a piece of rubbish. I never in my wildest dreams thought that my life could be changed and that I could become very useful in life. 

It’s amazing to see how waste can be recycled and used again. And a similarity of what was once waste or useless can be useful again!

If you would like more information on the Zero Project, please contact John Farrell, The City Bin Co. email john@citybin.com

Fold Housing’s Zero Pledge

FOLD Housing provides apartments and houses for older people and families. In addition, the Association provides supported housing with 24 hour care for frail and older people.

FOLD Housing enhances the quality of life for many people in the community by providing a unique combination of accommodation and associated service options. These include: Housing-with-Care and day care for frail older people and people with dementia; sheltered housing; and general needs accommodation for families.

The Fold Housing Team

We met with the Fold Housing Team earlier this year to investigate a better more inclusive way to recycle. We focused on two brand new developments in the Citywest part of Dublin namely Cuil Duin and The Mews. Both sites cater for approximately 25 units.

Karen Murphy is the Estate manager that introduced us to her team and worked with The City Bin Co.’s John Farrell to find a better and more cost-effective way to handle their waste.

• We are currently testing the use of organic bin caddies in all of the units along with the use of a recycling bag to move waste
  from each unit to the bin stores.
• The bin stores now have a general waste bin, a recycling bin, an organic bin and a glass bin.
• All bin stores have clear signage that show what can go into each bin.
• The difference is now significant with binstores achieving over 40% less general waste in the bins.
• The opportunity to recycle has been embraced by all of the teams and is proving to be a big success.

The adoption of the Earth Day Pledge with the group of committed people in Fold Housing will only send the recycling statistics one way. The pledge will be extended across the full portfolio of sites over the next 12 months.

The goal is to achieve a greater recycling rate, a greater understanding of the significance of recycling to achieve the ‘Zero Waste to Landfill’ Accrediatation.

If you would like more information on the Zero Project, please contact John Farrell, The City Bin Co. email john@citybin.com

Knight Frank continue their ‘Journey to Zero’

We engaged with the Knight Frank Green Team onsite at their HQ 6 months ago to investigate a way to handle their waste streams in a more effective manner.

Knight Frank’s senior management team under the supervision of Alison O Neill (Associate Director Property Asset Management) decided to investigate a way to recycle more and work to a ‘Zero Waste to Landfill’ goal. A key part of this process was meeting with The City Bin Co. to understand how waste is being created in the building. A major issue was the non-labelling of bins and no other option available than the ‘black sack’.

Knight Frank’s Rowena Crowley (Director Property Asset Management) and Anna Koczarska (Facility Manager) with The City Bin Co.’s John Farrell.

Progress over the past few months…

• the introduction of recycling bags
• a new organic separation system the implementation of a compost bin along with the introduction of a glass bin.
• Knight Frank now provide a breakfast and lunch option to all their team at HQ. This reduces the amount of waste being brought in at lunchtime and increases the amount of items being recycled.

The impact of this has been significant…

• They have moved from all waste going to landfill to an effective recycling rate of 69% (as of 31.03.23).
• The team are now better aligned with achieving the goal of Zero Waste to Landfill.

If you would like more information on the Zero Project, please contact John Farrell, The City Bin Co. email john@citybin.com

Jazz Pharmaceuticals: The Science of Sustainability

Jazz Pharmaceuticals is an anchor tenant in the main building occupying a number of floors at Waterloo Exchange. The corporate headquarters are located in Dublin, Ireland, with offices spanning the globe from Vancouver to Italy. Jazz is committed to creating a company where the culture reflects three important goals – their purpose to serve patients, be a great place to work, and to live the core values of integrity, collaboration, passion, innovation, and pursuit of excellence.

Why start on this sustainability journey?

Being an anchor tenant in this building Jazz Pharmaceuticals immediately engaged in the Earth Day vision for the building in conjunction with the building manager Martin Carroll of Knight Frank. Knight Frank enjoyed a successful Earth Day last year with another one of the Davy portfolio at 45 Mespil Road Dublin 4. Alison O Neill (Head of Property and Facility Services) introduced The City Bin Co. to the Estate Manager Martin Carroll as they felt a different approach to waste management was possible

The journey within this building started from the time they moved in to consistently innovating change in relation to how waste in handled onsite. Stephen Bateson (Global Workplace Manager, Jazz Pharmaceuticals) and his team have created real change in their workplace to avoid unnecessary waste. In working with The City Bin Co. they have been able to identify clear ways of reducing waste.

Some of these initiatives for change were…

• A town hall meeting was arranged in January 2022 with both the corporate tenants in the building along with the high street traders. The key focus of this meeting was to get agreement for a way forward from all parties that this needed to change and everyone needed to take personal responsibility for their own waste streams.
• Removing black sacks from the cleaning process.
• A solution was found to repurpose old IT equipment.
• Knowing exactly where their bins are and only using recycling, glass and organic bins.
• The removal of desk bins and replacing them with pods of bins on each floor.
• The use of ‘paper only’ recycling bins for all shredded waste.
• If fruit is left over on a Friday, staff are encouraged to bring it home rather than dump it.

What was done & by whom?

Stephen Bateson (Jazz Pharmaceuticals Global Workplace Manager) and his team.

The results?

• Plastic bottled water is no longer used onsite as all staff now have reusable water containers. This has saved over 5,000 plastic bottles last year alone.
• With the exception of wipes and face masks due to Covid, all waste now is either recycled, or disposed of as organic waste.
• Awareness to the team of how to, and why to, recycle

What next?

• To share these successes and future goals internally, and to see how these achievements can be replicated across the other locations.
• To maintain the standard they have achieved and measure against this on a quarterly basis

• To continue to share their story with their customers.

Classon House: Working Together Towards Sustainability

Classon House is a 4 storey modern office building which extends to 75,000 square feet located in Dundrum Business Park Dublin 14. The building is owned by Corum Origin and managed by Ian Bourke and his team from Knight Frank.

Why start on this sustainability journey?

The journey has been ongoing for the last number of months on this site since Knight Frank decided to try a different approach to waste management on behalf of their tenants to offer a greener way to handle their waste. Before engaging with The City Bin Co. there were a number of different waste contractors onsite. Knight Frank, having worked with John Farrell of The City Bin Co. during Earth Day 2021, wanted to explore the possibilities of creating awareness in-house of a better way to recycle.

Some of these initiatives for change were…

• Using one waste provider.
• Agreeing to a town hall meeting for all keyholders to discuss how they handle waste and how it could be improved.
• Introducing organic bins
• Increasing the number of recycling bins.
• Introducing glass bins.
• The town hall meeting was effectively the Green Team as there was a representative from all businesses onsite.
• The Green Team have worked not only on the colour coding of bins internally for the communal bins but has started to use the recycling option in a real way.

Who was involved in setting up & driving the project?

A representative from all keyholders
1. Cartrawler
2. Webbiz Redacre
3. MBSL Accountants
4. John West
5. JB Barry Engineers
6. Varming Engineers
7. Corum Origin Classon House (building owner)
8. Knight Frank Classon House

What was done & by whom?

The town hall meeting was arranged by Pardeep Singh Gill (Building Manager Knight Frank) under the direction of Ian Bourke Knight Frank (Property and Asset Manager).

The results?

• All cardboard and plastic generated on-site are 100% recycled.
• As food bins are now in play food/organic waste collections are up 200% on last year.
• The setting up of the Green Team now has a purpose and the key recycling messages are shared at every opportunity with new and existing team members.
• All waste being diverted from landfill.
• Recycling initiatives are discussed when the team meets as to how and why they do what they do. More recycling bins are to be put in this month and general waste bins are to be removed.

What next?

• No black sacks allowed in bins by Earth Day.
• To share the learning of recycling with the Green team for the end of Q2 this year and compare the significant changes on last year.
• WEEE waste facility set up for all tenants.
• Internal walk-through of each key holder by end of May 2022 to confirm the best use of messaging for internal bins.

Holland & Barrett: Doing good for you…and for the planet

Holland & Barrett Distribution Centre is located in Dublin Airport Logistics Park. It uses its 66,000 sq. feet to stock and distribute all shop items across its 83 stores in The Republic of Ireland.

Why start on this sustainability journey?

The journey has been ongoing for the last 6 months and has been consistent in its expectations across learning excellence and Innovation both within stores and the warehouse. The project lead within Holland and Barrett is Sarah Durkan, the EHS compliance officer for ROI and NI. Sarah has also taken the lead with the Holland and Barrett Green Team.

A number of months ago having changed waste contractors to The City Bin Co. Holland and Barrett wanted to examine a greener way of handling waste. Before engaging with The City Bin Co. all waste was simply being treated as landfill.

Holland and Barrett recognised that habits needed to change to make it greener and more sustainable. A lot of initiatives have been successful in the short amount of time since the project commenced.

Some of these initiatives for change were…

• No general waste bins on site. A selection of bins are now installed – organic for food, glass for glass, a designated timber only skip for timber and our unique FELfor light industrial waste that is source segregated at a recycling facility.
• Cardboard and Plastic balers are now installed and all of the specific waste types are baled accordingly and collected free of charge.
• Colour coded bins are now installed in the canteen area for all staff to segregate food waste from recycling. Lunch boxes are used by staff and this has dramatically reduced the amount of tinfoil going into bins.
• The Green team have added to the Induction manual for new employees the expectations that Holland and Barrett have for the way individuals new staff members are responsible for their own recycling.
• The Green Team have introduced recycling information around the new bins onsite.
• Another key initiative here is that when teams do meet recycling is always discussed where appropriate. A key feature in this has been the ordering of new labelling for recycling receptacles at the end of each storage line.

Who was involved in setting up & driving the project?

The project lead is Sarah Durkan.

The results?

• All cardboard and plastic generated on-site are 100% recycled.
• Food/organic waste collections are up 100% on 2021.
• The setting up of the Green Team now has a purpose and the key recycling messages are shared at every opportunity with new and existing team members
• All timber onsite is now being source segregated. This new recycling stream is again up 100% on last year
• All waste is diverted from landfill.

What next?

• The canteen to use only biodegradable materials by end of 2022.
• To share the learning of recycling with all stores in the ROI by end of 2022
• A quarterly review in conjunction with The City Bin Co. team.
• Supplying the employees with their own water and food containers to reduce all non-recycling food coverings by end of 2022.

Waterloo Exchange: Leading the way in Sustainability

WATERLOO EXCHANGE is located at Waterloo Road Dublin 4. It is 55,000 sq. feet and is a cornerstone building at the junction of Waterloo Road and Baggott St Dublin 4. Waterloo Exchange is the second Davy site that Knight Frank has chosen to work with The City Bin Co. on having introduced us to 45 Mespil Road last year, culminating in a positive Earth Day 2021 success story.

Why start on this sustainability journey?

Knight Frank enjoyed a successful Earth Day in 2021 with another one of the Davy portfolio at 45 Mespil Road Dublin 4. Alison O Neill (Head of Property and Facility Services) introduced The City Bin Co. to the Estate Manager Martin Carroll as they felt a different approach to waste management was needed. The journey has been ongoing for the last 3 months and has been consistent in its expectations across learning excellence and innovation both within the main building with its tenants and the wider building that has branded individual high street stores. The project lead within Knight Frank is the building manager Martin Carroll. Martin has a vast wealth of knowledge of building management and he wanted to use this to work with a waste company that could lead a change in the strategy of waste management for the building. A number of months ago having changed waste contractors to The City Bin Co. Martin wanted to implement more sustainable waste management practices. Before engaging with The City Bin Co. all waste was stored in one binstore area. Anyone could effectively use whatever bin they wanted.

Some of these initiatives for change were…

• A townhall meeting was arranged in January 2022 with both the corporate tenants in the building along with the highstreet traders. The key focus of this meeting was to get agreement for a way forward from all parties that this needed to change and everyone needed to take personal responsibility for their own waste streams.
• Once the relevant parties were onboard with the process, all commercial tenants came onboard with The City Bin Co. and individual accounts were set up.
• All commercial tenants agreed a collection schedule that would suit their own businesses.
• All parties concerned agreed to take a full set of bins for general, organic and recycling waste streams. As a result of implementing lockable bins everyone could see what actual waste they were generating along with seeing what was their actual recycling rate.
• All parties agreed to start using organic bags for food waste and again to use their own bins.
• All parties now have colour coded lockable bins.

Who was involved in setting up & driving the project?

The project was initiated by Knight Frank on behalf of the client Davy.

The results?

• All cardboard and plastic generated on site are 100% recycled.
• The corporate food waste collections are up over 100% on last year with the individual high street stores now have greater visibility of waste habits.
• The setting up of the Green Team now has a purpose and the key recycling messages are shared at every opportunity with new and existing team members.
• Everyone pays for their own waste. The more they recycle and the less food waste they generate – the less they pay.

What next?

• To continue with the recycling effort and install a baler in by end of 2022.
• To share the learning of recycling with all stores on a quarterly basis in a townhall environment.
• To continue to demonstrate that there is a cheaper, and greener, way to handle waste.

Ballymakenny College: an A+ in Sustainability

BALLYMAKENNY COLLEGE is a secondary school located in Drogheda County Louth. Since opening in 2014 the school has grown from a student body of 63 students and 9 staff to over 920 students and over 90 staff members with its main driving force being Principal Alan Mynes. We caught up with the Environmental Team in advance of Earth Day…

BK2

Why start on this sustainability journey?

The journey has been ongoing and has been consistent in its expectations across learning excellence and Innovation.

• The reduction in the amount of water needed by the school to function. A water harvesting system has been implemented and this rainwater is now used in many ways but most specifically in latrines across the school. This has and continues to reduce the amount of wasted water onsite by about 70%
• The schools boasts a wonderful garden. This has been created by staff and students alike and a main feature of the garden is a seated area where people can take a timeout for mindfulness or just a chat with some of their colleagues. Wild flowers and any amount of vegetables are grown onsite. This is ongoing and the vegetable follow the seasons. Anything from potatoes to fruit trees are harvested.
• The school even has it own chickens… 3 in fact. Their names are Bally, Mak and Kenny.
• The canteen now has moved away from plastics and only used biodegradable product to serve out the breaks and lunches.

Who was involved in setting up & driving the project?

The City Bin Co. were invited this year to start handling waste onsite. The school now has general waste, recycling and organic bins to handle all waste.

• Ballymakenny collaborated with John Farrell from The City Bin Co. to come up with a plan to divert waste from landfill. Alan Mynes Principal, Caroline Toole (DP) and other staff members Collie Joyce Ahearne, Philip Bergin and Peter Kermath along with the student Environmental Team all continue to share an equal role in the success of the project

What was done & by whom?

Initially Peter Kermath, the school’s Caretaker met with John Farrell to facilitate the changeover to The City Bin Co.

• The Environmental Team made up of teachers and students collaborated and formed steps to make the college greener.
• Both teachers and students alike came up with the garden concept, Principal Alan Mynes along with the board of management brought the water harvesting to a reality along with removing plastic bottled water.

The results?

Some key results today

• A huge 45,000 plastic bottles have been diverted out of the school
• The college is an A-rated building with sustainable features including
  –          Energy saving lighting
  –          Vampire technology that reduces non-essential use of electrical power
  –          A building management system that ventilates and heats the school
  –          Rainwater harvesting saving 440,000 litres of water per year.
• All general waste being diverted from landfill

What next?

• The canteen by end of 2022 to be an only biodegradable facility
• The compost heap in the garden to be fully functioning for all compost for the garden and vegetable patch by end of school term
• A tree planting ceremony this week to mark the success of the project to date

ChildVision – Looking to the Future

ChildVision is Ireland’s only dedicated centre for children with sight loss, some of whom also have profound sensory impairments and additional disabilities. They provide educational services, clinical services such as occupational therapy, speech therapy and physiotherapy.

Problems existing before starting their sustainability journey

• Before starting to work with The City Bin Co., ChildVision had a one bin fits all system i.e General Waste bins all over the campus. The school were producing over 40 tons of general waste per year, meaning that a large amount waste was ending up in landfill. Heavy general waste bins also meant ChildVision’s waste bills were higher than they should have been.

How did The City Bin Co. help?

• To relieve the pain of high waste bills and to increase ChildVision’s recycling rates, The City Bin Co. installed colour-coded bins for each waste stream across campus.
• We worked with ChildVision to carry out waste segregation training with staff and pupils in order to maintain a greener environment for all involved.

What results have ChildVision seen so far?

• In 2019 Child Vison diverted over 17 tonnes away from landfill with help from The City Bin Co. This was in total 40% of their waste production for 2019. In 2020 Child Vision diverted over 13 tonnes away from landfill*. This was 48% of their total waste production. ChildVision increased recycling rates by 8% from year 1 to year 2 of The Zero Project. Everyone at ChildVision has taken the training on board and the school has become more environmentally aware, doing their upmost to continue to recycle as much as possible.

*COVID affected this school so there were 14 tonnes less produced in total versus 2019 but their recycling habits had improved from year 1, 2019.

Ongoing 2021 Plans

• ChildVision aims to continue improving marginal gains and have set the goal of achieving a recycling rate of over 50% for 2021.

Check out other case study videos…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QrNPue0XM8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXHkX07uLvE

And if you would like more information on the Zero Project, please contact Gary McGrane, The City Bin Co. email gary.mcgrane@citybin.com

Or for a quote for your own project get in touch with us here.

Surmodics – Science meets Sustainability

Surmodics, a leading medical device company based in Ballinasloe, started their sustainability journey with The City Bin Co. in February 2021. Surmodics identified the need to increase recycling rates and their sustainability efforts, whilst reducing costs, and therefore kickstarted The Zero Project.

 Prior to February 2021

• Surmodics was using a number of 1100 litre bins for both general waste and recycling. The bins were many different colours and therefore caused confusion in terms of waste segregation, which resulted in low recycling rates. 
• Surmodics’ site is rather large, and was producing enormous amounts of grass, which was being tended to by a tractor lawn mower. This was resulting in high carbon emissions.

February 2021

• Surmodics kickstarted their sustainability journey with The Zero Project. 
• The City Bin Co. installed Front End Loader (FEL) bins onsite. The type of waste generated by Surmodics is dry industrial and therefore a good fit for the FEL bins. The waste is removed and transported to a recycling depot where it is sorted and either reused or recycled, helping Surmodics divert waste from landfill.
• Surmodics replaced outdoor and indoor fluorescent lights with LED lights. This has resulted in a total carbon saving of 25.5 tonnes, and there is no longer any fluorescent gas or lamps waste to dispose of. 
• Introduced light sensors that control 95% of Surmodics’ lights, ensuring lights automatically switch off during quieter times, saving energy. 
• Surmodics started working towards going paperless by introducing an e-signature, creating a paperless accounts payment system. 
• Surmodics provided keep cups and re-usable water bottles for their employees, cutting down on unneeded waste. 

March 2021

• The City Bin Co. carried out a waste audit onsite and put a plan together to ensure segregation of waste. 
• Surmodics have stopped working with a landscape gardener for their few acres of grass, and introduced the Mobot, an electric robot lawnmower. The Mobot does not waste grass and does not require fuel to cut the grass. This has resulted in carbon savings of 0.6 tonnes for the site.  

Ongoing 2021 Plans

• Ensuring the Zero Project standard is held amongst employees – providing training to make the team more aware of the impact of their business moving towards zero waste to landfill. 

Check out other case study videos…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QrNPue0XM8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXHkX07uLvE

And if you would like more information on the Zero Project, please contact John Farrell, The City Bin Co. email john@citybin.com

Or for a quote for your own project get in touch with us here.