Case Studies: Schools

Schools give Greenbank a great report

Greenbank has received top marks from schools supplied with our waste compacting machines.

The cost of rubbish collection from a Lincolnshire prep school has been halved, while two private schools in West Yorkshire are delighted with the reduction in the amount of traffic and number of unwanted insects in their grounds.

All benefits were attributed to the installation of our waste compactors!

Landfill costs halved
Only six weeks after we had set up a machineat St Mary’s Preparatory School in Lincoln, its Site Manager Andy Johnston reported a 50 percent saving in landfill costs while Wakefield Girls High School and Queen Elizabeth Grammar School - which together with preprep and junior schools make up the Wakefield Grammar School Foundation (WGFS) - were delighted to discover that their compactor held as much waste as the 16 large wheelie bins they had previously had to use.

Lincoln’s Andy Johnston said the school used to have two bins emptied three times a week but have been able to cut that down to one bin each visit, at half the cost.

“We realised that much of the bulk of our bags of garden and classroom waste was caused by trapped air so that, effectively, we were paying landfill tax on air,” he commented.

“Now, we put the bags into the compactor and they come out as flatpacks which take up much less bin space.”

Better environment
In Wakefield, the compactor has enabled WGSF to now confine all the schools’ rubbish to one area, away from the main building at the Girls High School and consequently, says Mike McQuaid, Deputy Estates Manager, really improved the environment.

“It has eliminated pests such as flies and wasps and also keeps squirrels and other vermin away,” he said.”

The green-minded school staff members separate card and paper for collection from a local recycler before putting the remaining non-contaminated waste, such as plastics, aluminium cans and tins, into the new compactor. And because this is so large – it has a capacity of 14 cubic yards – its presence has helped reduce the number of waste collections from the school and the size of vehicles required to do this.

Added Mr McQuaid:
“We still generate contaminated waste that can’t be put into the compactor but this is collected by a small skip wagon which is far less hazardous than the massive wagon that used to collect all the wheelie bins we used for our waste before we had the Greenbank machine.”

Personal service and maintenance
The Estates Management team at WGSF conducted thorough research of the different types of compactors available before opting for one supplied by Greenbank.

“Sales Director, Robin Evershed, took time to drive myself and my manager to York so that we could see one in action which was really useful,” Mr McQuaid explained. “His willingness to do that, combined with the fact that Greenbank maintains all its machines - rather than us having to find a third party engineer able to do so - gave me the reassurance I needed to make my choice.”

The compactors at both schools will be maintained and serviced by Greenbank for the duration of our contract with them.