SUEZ recycling and recovery UK has published its 2021 Sustainability Report, structured around the areas of People, Planet and Profit, which make up its “triple bottom line” ethos.

As the UK began to emerge from the pandemic, SUEZ put more waste to good use whilst stepping-up support for its people and local communities, reducing the carbon intensity of its activities, and increasing turnover.

In the year that saw SUEZ host events at COP 26 in Glasgow highlighting the critical role resource efficiency plays in combatting climate change, SUEZ reduced the carbon emissions intensity per tonne of waste handled in 2021 by 0.3% through operational improvements implemented as part of its journey to net zero.

2021 also saw SUEZ increase its re-use activities with three new outlets and the industry leading Renew Hub in Greater Manchester. Over the year, across the 29 re-use shops it runs nationwide, 418,000 items, weighing just over 2,000 tonnes were recovered for re-use.

Recycling levels rose in 2021 as business activity resumed as COVID restrictions eased, with SUEZ sending over 1.3m tonnes for recycling, and energy generation from residual waste across SUEZ’s portfolio increased by 7% on 2020, at 1.7m megawatt hours of electricity.

The company now deals with waste materials from one in three households in the UK at some point in their journey from kerbside to treatment.

Investment in its facilities and fleet in 2021 was £18.5m including upgrading landfill gas infrastructure, increasing production capacity for solid recovered fuel and installing on-board camera systems and electric charging infrastructure.

Social value created by SUEZ, based on 88 performance indicators that capture environmental, economic and social impacts to measure the overall value it generates for society, reached more than £2.18 billion, some £200 million higher than 2020.

John Scanlon, chief executive officer for SUEZ recycling and recovery UK, said: “In 2021, we redefined our purpose to Building a Sustainable Future that doesn’t cost the earth reflecting our People, Planet, Profit ethos, which recognises that we are in the business of preserving resources not only to uphold our financial viability, but also to benefit our local communities, wider society and our environment. I am proud of the progress we made in all three areas of our triple bottom line in 2021 and confident we will continually improve on this as we embed the triple bottom line more deeply throughout our business on our journey to net zero.”

Find out more at the SUEZ website.