News and events

Boscombe’s Sovereign Centre has started the new year with initiatives aimed at reducing water wastage in the public lavatories and improving the Centre’s waste recycling.

The Toilets in the Sovereign Centre have been refurbished to bring them up to date with the rest of the Centre to ensure they are modern and environmentally friendly. Among the modern features installed to improve cleanliness and quality are waterless urinals and better ventilation.  The addition of automatic taps, electronic flushes and non-slip easy-clean flooring will also help to achieve a high level of hygiene for users.  Anti-crime measures were also put in place such as vandal-proof toilet seats, which mean the facilities will be safer and last longer than before.

Meanwhile, shops and their staff have been using the new Pakawaste MX600 baler recently installed on the service deck. This large, high density baling press reduces waste by up to 90% and is suitable for a number of different packaging materials, including cardboard, shredded paper, shrink films etc.  The new baler replaces the centre’s multi-material compactor which prepared waste only for landfill.

However once the materials have been compacted into bales by the new baler, they are removed by a waste paper processor which pays the Centre for the material and while the Centre will still produce a similar quantity of waste, between 70-90% of that will now be recycled rather than going to landfill..  It is hoped that the Centre will see a return of approximately £1,500 per year from the sale of cardboard and plastics to the processor from the use of this new equipment, which will be put towards other improvement schemes for customers and staff.   The Centre’s environmental footprint will also benefit as there will be fewer collections, therefore less fuel used by collectors and a lower carbon release to the atmosphere.

Indeed the Centre’s stores have long been advocates of the reduce, re-use and recycle mantra, with both Robert Dyas and Boots offering recycling points for disposable batteries among their other products and services to customers.