The 'waste' club

• Award-winning waste-management collective
• € 36 000 saved on general rubbish disposal
• € 16 432 saved on paper and cardboard 

After moving her company to the Château Industrial Park in Carvin, France, Jocelyne Hemelsdael noticed that many business leaders lacked the time or means to manage cross-cutting projects such as waste management. After successfully pooling gardening and security services with other companies, she created Carvin Entreprises Club which focused on waste collection, which had been poorly covered in the Park for several years.

The objectives of pooling waste management were two-fold. Frstly, it provided a simpler, more cost-effective collective solution to all Club members. Secondly, it offered more bargaining power and organisational advantages, and it expanded the waste-collection options to paper and cardboard, organic materials, and other waste sources where no prior collection scheme had existed.

Key results 

The results of this collective scheme were overwhelmingly positive. In terms of its quantitative results, the first 25 businesses to join the scheme saw:

• 36 % savings associated with rubbish disposal (€ 36 000 benefit)
• 67 % savings on paper and cardboard (€16 432 benefit) 
• 32 % savings on garage waste (€ 2 672 benefit)
• 22 % savings on green waste (€ 3 150 benefit)
• 72 % savings on garden waste (€ 8 894 benefit)
• 34 % savings for organic materials (€9 172 benefit)
• 42 % savings on effluent from the grease trap (€ 1 000 benefit)

This project stimulated constructive dialogue between businesses on the industrial park, and promoted its sustainable management image and overall attractiveness. The project also received the 2010 award for environmental performance given by the regional chamber of commerce, the French environmental management agency (Ademe) and the regional authorities.