Thirteen Recycling Centre: Making every week recycling week

In this blog for recycling week 2022 Helen Beaman, FM delivery manager at Thirteen, reflects on the impact since the launch of its Recycling Centre and why it is important for housing providers to incorporate recycling into their business practices.

An incredible amount of work had gone into setting up the centre before I joined Thirteen. We've since built up a small successful team and began bringing waste into the site in January 2021.

The state-of-the-art centre in Billingham is impressive and I feel lucky to be a part of such a unique facility. Managing our own waste gives us much more control over what happens to it and where it goes to be processed. As an organisation, we’re aiming to reduce our waste to landfill by 95% by 2025. Everything we’re doing here demonstrates our commitment to reducing the negative impact we have on the environment.

I’ve worked in waste management for 27 years now and I love it. Even after so many years, how we manage our waste still fascinates me. My career began with the Environment Agency as a freshwater ecologist and pollution prevention officer. Then I moved to the North East in 1998, where I worked for the Local Authority for 22 years as a waste specialist, before joining Thirteen to manage the recycling centre and develop waste reduction and education projects.

What happens to our waste?

You’ll have seen the fantastic work the investment team is doing to make improvements to our customers’ homes and you may wonder what happens to all of the waste material like old wood from the kitchens, windows and boilers.

The waste going through the recycling centre is generated through our planned investment schemes, repairs, environmental improvements carried out by our grounds maintenance team, the work we do to empty homes to get them ready for the next customer and fly tipping which we pick up on land owned by Thirteen.
In the last 12 months we reclaimed more than 400 tonnes of wood, 100 tonnes of metal including 280 boilers, 2 tonnes of tyres and over 70 tonnes of waste electrical goods. During that time, half of the bulky items received have been broken down and materials recovered.

We’ve also reclaimed around 40 tonnes of UPVC windows from our investment works - once we removed the glass, we sell the frames to a company that use them to make new UPVC frames.

We’re working in partnership with many local industries in the North East.

The site is also carbon neutral. The solar photovoltaic panels produce enough electricity to power the site as well as a pool of five electric cars and vans! This system alone is expected to reduce carbon emissions by around 50 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent each year.

Educating communities

Working with colleagues and our customers about managing waste and its impact on the environment is something we are starting to do and we’re preparing to do even more. The work we’re doing this week as part of Recycle Week demonstrates why it’s so important that we all do our bit to protect the environment.

Much more than recycling waste

This year we have been delighted to have welcomed schools, community groups and colleagues into the centre. It has been lovely to meet many colleagues at our new wellbeing sessions and upcycling workshops which have been a real success. I know that colleagues enjoyed getting out in the fresh air to help with projects and the pond and the bug hotel have taken great shape! We’re lucky to have so much specialist knowledge here.

Sharing that knowledge about the environment is so important to us all.

Helping our customers

Our latest development – the furniture upcycling project is set to benefit those customers who need some extra support, with our specialist upcycling squad reconditioning donated and once-loved furniture, before giving it away to customers who have low incomes, lost possessions fleeing dangerous circumstances or have previously been homeless.

The scheme has two huge benefits – it helps customers currently facing such severe financial challenges furnish their homes with clean, restored and attractive furniture and prevents hundreds of tonnes of unwanted furniture from going to landfill.

It’s a really exciting time for us all at the Thirteen Recycling Centre and seeing the difference that we all make together is something that I know we’re all really proud of in the whole team.