Food & drink industry welcomes national online waste transfer system

Chris Deed, edoc programme manager at the Environment Agency

Over two thirds of large and medium-sized food & drink businesses have shown their support for a new online waste management system.

Chris Deed, edoc programme manager at the Environment Agency

In a recent survey, 67 per cent of large or medium-sized food & drink companies who were questioned said they were keen to use edoc (electronic duty of care) – a free online system to record waste transfers that is being developed by the Environment Agency in partnership with the waste sector for roll out in January 2014. And more than half (55%) of smaller food and drink businesses said they too would be interested in transferring.

The introduction of edoc will provide a modern, quick and easy alternative to the exchange of paper Waste Transfer Notes (WTNs) which all food & drink businesses across the UK have to fill out every time they dispose of any waste or pass it on to a waste carrier or contractor. The new system will save time and money spent filing, searching and retrieving waste transfer records manually, reduce paper and cut down on storage needs. And it will give companies in the food & drink sector easy access and the tools to interrogate their own waste data and identify opportunities to improve efficiency, reduce waste and cut disposal costs.

Bernard Amos, CEO at Helistrat, which provides waste management services for a variety of restaurants and food halls as well as food retailers such as Marks & Spencer, said: “The edoc system is a brilliant idea and I’d encourage all companies to take it up.

“More and more we are moving towards paper-free ways of doing business and this makes perfect sense. It’s quicker, easier to trace and will help prevent fraud by removing the opportunity for people to take advantage of the revenue from waste. It will also be hugely time-saving. We have well over a quarter of a million paper WTNs that we have to scan and it will save our teams a great deal of time when it all goes electronic.”

On schedule to go live in January 2014, edoc is being developed under a four year project co-financed by the European Commission (LIFE+). The UK-wide project is led by the Environment Agency with partnership with the Chartered Institution of Wastes Management (CIWM), Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA), Reconomy (UK) Ltd, Welsh Government and WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Programme). The project also has the full support of Defra and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA).

Use of edoc will not be mandatory, but the project partners hope that the benefits it offers will encourage businesses to make the move online.

Chris Deed, edoc programme manager at the Environment Agency, said: “With edoc, we are aiming to provide a modern means of recording waste transfers that reduces the administrative burden on businesses. We surveyed the six sectors for which UK waste compliance has particular impact and found the majority of businesses were keen to take up the new online edoc system. It’s a simple system to use, with so many benefits, and we want to help every business who takes its environmental responsibilities seriously to make the change to edoc.”

Every business in the UK has a legal duty of care to deal with their waste responsibly. Every transfer of waste from one party to another eg a business to a collection, disposal or recycling contractor, or between contractors where there is more than one step in the chain, must be documented, agreed and signed by both parties, and a record kept for at least two years. It is estimated that approximately 23 million paper WTNs are produced across the UK each year, which means close to 50 million in storage at any one time.

In addition to reducing administrative burdens, edoc should also improve the quality of business waste data. Paper records are sometimes incomplete or difficult to read. With edoc, pick-lists, drop-down menus, prompts and templates will make it easy for users to complete fuller records. This will in turn contribute to a more complete and accurate picture of waste produced across the UK than ever before – invaluable for understanding and planning for waste at local and national levels in the future. It is thought that edoc could replace the need for costly business waste surveys, saving governments around £1 million per annum.

Businesses interested in edoc can find out more now at www.environment-agency.gov.uk/edoc or email [email protected] to receive news and updates on how to register for the new system.