Company Background
TransPennine Express is a train operating company that runs regional and inter-city rail services between the major cities and towns of Northern England and Scotland.
As well as managing 19 stations on its routes, TransPennine Express also completes around 29 million passenger journeys in a typical year.
Issues
With a focus on reducing its negative environmental impact, TransPennine Express is committed to conserving resources, limiting waste and embedding circular economy principles into its operational activities.
Although TPE already has recycling bins and general waste bins at its stations, TPE is seeking to further increase recycling. A route to achieve this is by tackling beverage cup waste. Single-use coffee cups not only clog up general waste bins but also often find themselves contaminating recycling bins. This is often as a result of customers believing that, because they’re predominantly made of paper, they can be treated like other paper products when, in fact, they require specialist recycling processes to recycle them.
Solution
TransPennine Express understood that, in order to begin recycling paper cups, new processes and infrastructure needed to be adopted, beginning with segregating cup waste from other waste materials.
To achieve this, dedicated cup bins were required and so the train company turned immediately to co-cre8; currently the only supplier of cup collection bins to be approved by the Department of Transport.
To begin with, ten co-cre8 Mobile Cup Recycling Stations were ordered by TransPennine Express, and all branded to its specific design requirements. Three each of the cup collection bins have been placed on the station concourses of Hull, Scarborough and Cleethorpes, with the remaining one kept in reserve.
Each bin has separate apertures for cups, lids and liquids, ensuring that the materials collected can all be recycled without contamination. Furthermore, bins liners are used so that the waste materials can more easily be emptied and the bins are kept cleaner.
Results
Cup recycling at TransPennine Express has only just started yet initial feedback is extremely encouraging.
“Cup waste was not only dragging down our recycling stats but was also contaminating valuable materials that were then prevented from being recycled”
“The system we have now put into place will transform this problem. The cup collection bins are prominently positioned in three of our key stations and, together with the clear and concise signage, customers will now find it easy to dispose their coffee cups in the correct bin after use. Once we’ve had some experience of how the bins are being used, our expectation is that they will be rolled out to other stations over the course of the next year.”
Nicola Martin, Head of Sustainability TransPennine Express
Keshari joined the co-cre8 team in 2022 and is responsible for the daily management of the business finances including financial reporting, purchase ledger, sales ledger and building relationships with customers and suppliers.
Wayne joined the co-cre8 team in 2022 and brings more than two decade’s worth of operational and commercial experience in the food service packaging and waste management sectors. With co-cre8’s portfolio of three business divisions, Wayne spreads his unrivalled skillset across multiple activities including for our Honest brand, internal Waste and Recycling Stations and System Design partnership projects. Wayne plays a key role in ensuring co-cre8’s operations are commercially viable, building and maintaining great relationships with suppliers, ensuring the smooth success of projects and keeping a smile on everyone’s face!
We welcomed Hannah to the team in January 2022 to grow and develop our Built Environment business division. Hannah brings a wealth of skills to the team including her fantastic communication and eye for detail.
Katie joined the team in December 2021, and plays a key role in supporting the Sales and Marketing Manager with all sales and marketing activity across the co-cre8 and Honest brands. Katie’s main responsibilities include pro-actively developing and reactively managing business-to-business sales opportunities, processing orders, general customer service and supporting with the creation and delivery of marketing campaigns.
Prior to co-founding co-cre8 in 2019, Peter spent 10 years as a UK Director of Closed Loop Environmental Solutions. With a passion for recycling and, as one of the UK’s leading exponents of promoting more circular solutions, Peter created and delivered many pioneering industry projects, most notably the Simply Cups scheme.
James has over 20 years’ experience in the waste and recycling industry. Starting with just one second hand truck, he founded and developed Simply Waste Solutions into a thriving, profitable business with a £35m turnover. In 2020, James decided that he was ready for new challenges and took Simply Waste to a successful exit, selling to Biffa plc for £40m.
Natalie joins the co-cre8 team with extensive knowledge and experience in waste, recycling, and circular business models, with her speciality in Finance. For the last 17 years, Natalie has worked, and was a shareholder, in a start-up, high growth to exit waste and recycling business, with 15 years spent at board level.
Georgia joined the team at co-cre8 in 2020 and is responsible for developing the business through creative thinking and effective communication via sales and marketing channels.
Rachel originally joined the co-cre8 team in 2019 as Customer Service Specialist for Simply Cups. Her role has since evolved, following the launch of the Built Environment range, where she now heads up all logistics including supplier liaising, order processing and general operations of the business.