CASE STUDY: NEVIS RANGE MOUNTAIN EXPERIENCE Rationale Due to the landscape in which the Nevis Range is set, the resort has a long standing environmental commitment to protect its surroundings, and encourage visitors from all walks of life to enjoy the mountain experience while minimising their lasting impact on the landscape. The management company responsible for the Nevis Range is committed to a yearly Green Action Plan, with six or seven environmental targets set annually. Establishing Recycling On The Go (RotG) facilities was set as an action in 2008 and the company has a commitment to continue to improve access to recycling and educate visitors about recycling. Nevis Range Mountain Experience uses RotG as part of a long-term commitment to improve access to recycling and educate visitors about recycling. This case study describes the RotG at the Nevis Range Mountain Experience including an overview of the schemes, the rationale, planning stages and container details. Location The Nevis Range Mountain Experience (the Nevis Range) is located near Fort William in the Highlands. The resort welcomes visitors all year round for a variety of activities including snow sports, mountaineering, gondola rides, a high wire adventure course, forest walks and world class mountain biking events. The resort has a café at the gondola base station as well as a restaurant, bar and shopping at the top station. Footfall varies considerably according to the season, with higher numbers visiting during the summer months; footfall in the summer is c.149,000 while in the winter is c.50,000. Scheme overview The company has been recycling waste for many years but recycling containers were first introduced for the public in 2008 and provision across the site has grown year on year. The recycling containers have been positioned in areas with the highest footfall, e.g. in cafes, the car park and by the gondola stations. Plastic bottles, glass and cans are all separated at source. In 2011 existing facilities were upgraded and extended. Planning Measures have been taken by the management company to ensure that the product packaging sold on site can be recycled as far as possible. This step helps to maximise the proportion of waste that can be recycled using the containers provided. No glass products are sold directly to customers at the top station; any drinks purchased in glass bottles are poured directly into glasses at the point of sale. Glass containers are then separately collected back of house including segregation in different colours. Locating recycling containers at the top level gondola station presents a particular challenge for servicing; all of the recyclate collected, at the highest point in the UK, page 1
must be brought down in the gondolas by staff. This logistical difficulty is managed by ensuring daily collections to minimises the amount needing transfer by staff. The Nevis Range residual waste contractor was unwilling to collect the recyclates due to the low volumes involved. To get around this, Nevis Range obtained permission from Highland Council to deposit segregated waste at a community recycling point and in 2000 the resort obtained a waste carrier s license which allows them to transport recyclate. The licence is issued by Highland Council as part of their Bring Recycling Scheme for Commercial Customers and a limit is set at 1100 litres per week. In practice this proved too onerous for glass and cardboard and the company was able to organise getting these materials uplifted by the waste contractor. The Nevis Range hosts one off events which attract a high level of footfall; the most significant of these is the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup which attracts 18,000 spectators over a weekend. The level of waste generated would overwhelm the normal day to day facilities. Special arrangements have been made with Highland Council for these events enabling the resort to borrow wheelie bins for residual waste and recyclate collection. Due to the volumes involved the waste contractors collect the recyclates produced from these events. Indoor containers The indoor RotG containers are located at busy spots next to existing residual waste containers within the gondola stations and restaurants. Figure 1 illustrates the original containers used for plastic bottles and the containers which are now in place. The new containers use Recycle for Scotland iconography and collect both plastic bottles and cans. Table 1 gives technical details for the current containers. Figure 1 Nevis Range indoor plastic RotG containers located in Pinemartin cafe. Table 1 Details of Nevis Range indoor RotG containers Number of containers 4 Type of container Container capacity (litres) c.50 Plastic, single top opening Make of container Glasdon, Nexus 50 Cost per container Waste streams segregated c. 85 Plastic, cans, glass Outdoor containers The Nevis Range has introduced one set of outdoor recycling containers for mixed plastic bottles, cans and glass at the gondola station and the car park (see Figure 2). Table 2 gives technical details for the containers. page 2
Capital expenditure Additional containers are being purchased to expand recycling facilities as resources allow. Table 2 Details of Nevis Range outdoor RotG containers Number of containers Type of container Container capacity (litres) Make of container Cost per container Waste streams segregated Figure 2 Nevis Range outdoor RotG containers located at the car park. 1 location with 3 containers Plastic, single opening 240 litre Glasdon c. 200 Plastic, cans, glass Signage The initial containers installed were colour coded with signage produced in-house. The company has now re-branded all facilities to follow the Recycle for Scotland iconography. The additional wheelie bins for large scale events, given their temporary nature and the high cost of producing signage professionally, use signage produced in-house. The Nevis Range plans to create artwork using the Recycle for Scotland resources and print and laminate signs that can be stuck onto the bins and reused whenever necessary. Collection and storage arrangements The containers are monitored regularly and emptied daily. The containers are emptied more frequently if required. Recyclates collected at the top station are transferred to the bottom station by staff using the gondolas. All recycled material is stored in large capacity wheelie bins at a recycling compound at the back of the bottom gondola hall. Staff at Nevis Range colour segregate the glass collected within the recycling compound. One waste contractor collects plastic, aluminium and cans on a weekly basis. A separate waste contractor collects the colour separated glass. Any additional recyclates are transferred to a council recycling point by staff at the Nevis Range using a pickup. Recyclates collected during the UCI World Cup and other large events are collected by the waste contractor used for residual waste collection. Monitoring and communication Currently the volume and tonnage of recyclates collected is not monitored; this is something that the resort aims to put in place in the future. Currently the waste contractor is not able to provide details of the tonnage collected because the collection is included on a collection route taking in other sites. The Nevis Range is developing a material stream journey display that will feature as part of their staff training on the importance of RotG. The display will then appear in the main gondola station as a reminder to visitors of how important it is to protect the habitat they are enjoying today for the future. page 3
Performance and contamination The resort has experienced few issues with contamination day to day. Small amounts of contamination are removed from the recyclate stream in the recycling area and placed with residual waste. Contamination is a bigger issue at the large events; users are less likely to empty plastic and cans before disposal and incorrect use of containers does take place. It is hoped that improved signage of containers will help with this issue at future events. Lessons learned The Nevis Range found that the successful introduction of RotG facilities requires close overall management with a dedicated team of committed staff. The resort has found that clustering of containers for different waste streams is more effective than having individual containers when encouraging visitors to separate their waste. Clear colour coding and signage of the containers has helped to reduce the amount of contamination in the RotG containers. In the future Nevis Range would like to have the recycling containers provided at the large events colour coded to further improve performance. Acknowledgements Thanks to Dave Austin, Environmentl Supervisor at Nevis Range Development Company. page 4
For further information about Recycle on the Go please visit: www.wrap.org.uk/rotgengland While we have tried to make sure this case study is accurate, we cannot accept responsibility or be held legally responsible for any loss or damage arising out of or in connection with this information being inaccurate, incomplete or misleading. This material is copyrighted. You can copy it free of charge as long as the material is accurate and not used in a misleading context. You must identify the source of the material and acknowledge our copyright. You must not use material to endorse or suggest we have endorsed a commercial product or service. Please note that this information was correct at the time of writing, but the regime is liable to change with government policy. WRAP will endeavour to update this document when changes are made to the regime. For more details please see our terms and conditions on our website at www.wrap.org.uk www.wrap.org.uk/rotgengland Waste & Resources Action Programme Helpline freephone: 0808 100 2040 E-mail: info@wrap.org.uk page 5