Table 2

Sustainability impacts of regenerate

PillarSustainability effectEvidence and source
Social sustainabilityDonations to local charitiesContractually agreed, “100,000 pounds each year was dedicated to be donated to [local] charities, £ 220,000 to the community fund. And that has helped 90 projects. The contract extension has just happened now. After the [complete extended contract will be delivered], it would be 1.5 million pounds that we would have generated for [the local community]” (“Regenerate” manager)
Local employment and training“In the wider contract, [Waste management organisation] created a variety of apprenticeships in engineering, vehicle maintenance, waste management, business administration and furniture restoration” (Local municipality annual report on social value, 2022–23). As a result, “In July, three apprentice maintenance technicians and one business administration apprentice joined the [Local municipality] team” (Waste management organisation newsletter August 2022)
Reintroducing ex-offenders into work and employmentThrough partnership with a local social enterprise, who run one of the work areas within “Regenerate”. “This charity runs 8-week placements for people on probation to give them basic work skills in electricals, aiming to reduce homelessness and reoffending by supporting [them] into stable housing and employment” (Contract renewal announcement)
Local social impact“[Waste-management company] reported £240,659,235 worth of social value created through their waste contract with the [local municipality for ‘Regenerate’] during the 2022–2023 financial year. [Waste-management company] used Loop to quantify their social value generated on the waste contract through an array of initiatives undertaken in [the local community]” (Local municipality annual report on social value, 2022–23)
Environmental sustainabilityWaste diversionIn addition to waste diversion, the waste produced through repairing pre-used items in comparison to linear-economy set-ups is vastly reduced as the Lead bike technician explained: “the amount of waste produced in a shop [in my previous role] was phenomenal. A brand-new bike packaged in its box would include single use plastics, Styrofoam, zip ties and so on. Over the duration of a day, you build 10–15 bikes in the shop, so you produce so much waste. Now that was apparent my whole way through working and I didn’t see much change in that. […] Here, we don’t have new bikes. The waste coming from the bikes is pretty minimal” (Lead bike technician)
Local biodiversity and environmental conservationAs part of the contract for “Regenerate”, the waste management company “has planted 1,498 trees […], donated over 350 tonnes of compost to community groups and has taken a range of actions to improve biodiversity […] within the first five years of the contract” (Contract renewal announcement)
Source(s): Author’s own work

or Create an Account

Close Modal
Close Modal