British intercity train operating company Avanti West Coast has prevented 500 tonnes of recyclables from going to waste since introducing waste segregation officers at its stations in July 2023.

494 tonnes of packaging materials including metal, paper, glass and plastic disposed of at four stations on the West Coast Main Line were sorted in the first year of Avanti’s recycling initiative, delivered in partnership with waste management company SWRnewstar.

Waste is categorised into dry mixed recycling, food, glass and general waste before being collected and sent to a materials recovery facility where the items are processed for use as raw materials.

Coffee cups are now segregated at all four locations to further increase recycling rates – with around 30,000 collected every two weeks.

54% of collected waste was able to be transformed into raw materials for new products.

Sorting on-site helps prevent contamination of materials and enables more waste to be separated manually.

The segregation officer role, which supports Avanti's sustainability strategy, was first introduced at Crewe station in Cheshire to maximise the quantity of waste materials being recycled.

Following a successful trial that saw recycling rates at Crewe increase from 20% to almost 60%, the role was also introduced at Birmingham International, Carlisle and Stafford. Three more stations are set to benefit from the dedicated resource by March 2025.

Avanti is aiming to reduce, reuse or recycle 60% of waste at its 16 managed stations by March 2025.

SWRnewstar corporate account manager George Tilley commented:  “Avanti West Coast has proven that through targeted investment and a collaborative partnership with their waste service provider they’re able to improve their recycling rates even in the most challenging of environments."

Avanti head of sustainability Melanie Hockenhull added: “We want to build on this by introducing this role at more locations, so we can better maximise the recovery of recyclable items and continue to drive sustainability improvements across the west coast.”