Tilbury Douglas

Reconomy Connect, a Reconomy specialist brand, is working with Tilbury Douglas to support the business with its waste and resource management, helping it move away from a linear model and towards a more circular one.

With waste materials leaving the business, there is an opportunity to understand and re-engineer processes to move towards zero waste and reduce carbon. Over the years, recycling rates have been steady, but with some changes to site governance and the development of best practice processes, a shift towards waste reduction can be achieved.

• Problem: As part of its new People, Planet, and Performance (PPP) sustainability strategy, Tilbury Douglas needed to understand its waste streams and shift practices away from a linear model towards a more circular one.
• Solution: Reconomy Connect is using its five steps to circularity model to analyse the current situation, review the data, and provide a clear, practical action plan, beginning with a plastics pilot to capture data and assess engagement.
• Result: A live plastics initiative that segregates waste at source, an early read on plastic waste volumes, and strong stakeholder buy-in, giving Tilbury Douglas a clear foundation for its circular transition.

A framework for change

Tilbury Douglas recently launched its sustainability strategy, People, Planet, and Performance (PPP). As a leading UK building, infrastructure, engineering, and fit-out business, this framework provides a comprehensive approach to carbon reduction, sustainability, and social value outcomes across the company.

Reconomy Connect is using its five steps to circularity model to enable Tilbury Douglas to make this transition. Step one is to analyse what the current situation is, with step two being a thorough review of data to provide a clear and practical action plan that can be communicated.

The plastics initiative

A plastics initiative has initially been set up as a pilot phase to analyse volumes of plastic waste produced on site. The aim was to capture data, and to assess stakeholder buy-in and engagement response, whilst also understanding commercial and environmental viability in an isolated and manageable way.

The initiative has seen a suite of new bins set up to segregate at-source plastic waste. This was then collected, weighed, and sent off for recycling. Critically, before the pilot got underway, the teams on site were fully briefed on what the initiative was, its objective, and what process they needed to follow. Engagement and buy-in at all levels meant waste was segregated into the correct bins and a fair assessment was made at the end of the pilot.

Initial results showed that low volumes of plastic waste material were being produced at this point of the project. A wider material assessment through the project journey will be carried out next to identify the points at which plastic waste is being produced.