Media Centre

Recycling on National Express East Coast trains will help cut waste by half

30 Dec 2008

Customers are to be encouraged to recycle on board National Express East Coast trains to help the company cut the amount of waste it generates by half.

The train operator will trial recycling trolleys on selected services during February and March.

If the trial proves a success, recycling trolleys will be introduced across all services to help National Express East Coast meet its ambitious target of reducing the waste it generates by 50 per cent by early 2010.

During the trial, a mobile trolley will travel the length of the train and staff will be on hand to separate waste into colour coded bags.

Customers will also be encouraged to separate waste, such as newspapers, aluminium cans and plastic and glass bottles, and place items into different coloured bags in a static trolley, which will be located in standard class.

Carolyn Bell, Environment Manager for National Express East Coast, said: “On board staff will separate the waste on the mobile trolley, but we will also encourage customers to help us to recycle as much waste as possible by using the static trolley themselves.

“People recycle in their own homes so I’m convinced they will respond positively.

“The trolleys will be on different trains at different times of the day to get a comprehensive picture of how much recycling we can collect, and to gauge how customers have responded.

“We need to find out what works well before we can hopefully start full recycling operations on all of our trains in the second half of 2009.”

The waste collected from trains will be transferred to a recycling centre in Newcastle.

“The aim is to work with local recycling partners to reduce carbon emissions from the pick-up and delivery of recycled products,” added Carolyn.

Meanwhile, National Express East Coast is considering how it can re-use as much waste as possible.

“In the long run the idea is that, wherever possible, we will have our waste recycled into products which we can use in our business,” said Carolyn.

“Waste paper, for example, could be recycled into paper carrier bags, hand towels or perhaps paper napkins.

“Plastic bottles and aluminium cans will be recycled and given a new life and we will be talking with our catering staff about using products on board that use recycled materials in their packaging.”

ENDS

Note to editors:

A study produced earlier this year by leading European sustainability consultants Best Foot Forward, and commissioned by National Express East Coast, showed that a single rail journey on its trains generated less than a third of the greenhouse gas emissions caused by flying – and less than half the emissions caused by the same journey by car.

The research showed that a single rail journey between Newcastle and London generates an average 19 kgs of CO2 emissions per passenger, compared with 55 kgs by car and 68 kgs by air.

The figures were similarly striking for a single trip between Edinburgh and London, where a single trip by rail generates an average 27 kgs of CO2 per passenger, compared with 76kgs by car and 84kgs by air.