Biffa are proud to give something back to the many communities in which we operate. We host local site liaison groups and visits at key operating sites, provide community updates and actively encourage employees to volunteer. Our local teams regularly participate in fundraising initiatives for charities of their choice and in 2019 we launched our partnership with WasteAid, to support education and local projects in low-income areas without sophisticated waste collection and management systems. In our Collections Division the Lost Time Injury (LTI) accumulator donates money to each depot’s chosen charity for every day reported with no lost time injury. Through this initiative it has helped us raise nearly £70,000 for charity in 2019 whilst also encouraging safer working.
Biffa also helps to create wildlife and biodiversity habitat as part of our landfill restoration schemes and run special projects like the “Biffa Bees” scheme to encourage bee habitat creation. We also enable the Biffa Award fund, which diverts a proportion of landfill tax to help support community and nature conservation projects near our sites. Since this started, it has provided nearly £180 million into a wide range of community projects, benefiting around 265,000 people and 500,000 hectares of land. In 2019 we also funded a programme of school workshops on waste and recycling, helping to educate and inspire the next generation about the importance of recycling. More information and advice about sustainable waste management and topical waste issues can also be found in our “Reality Check” publications here.
Caring for our people and supporting our communities is also one of the three main pillars of our sustainability strategy “Resourceful, Responsible”, which includes a range of actions and targets on issues like responsible employment practices, health and safety, community support and biodiversity. We also focus on it in our Group Annual Report.
Key activities:
- Local site community liaison
- Community projects funding and charity fundraising
- Community volunteering
- Awareness raising and advice on sustainability and waste management
- Support for international charity WasteAid