Sustainability CARBON REDUCTION continued Operational waste management Our aim is to reduce operational waste, increase the proportion which is recycled and diverted from landfill, and find the optimum recycling routes which balance cost and environmental impact. Our approach is also driven by upcoming legislation, including the introduction of taxes on plastic packaging from 2022, and increasing producer responsibility obligations on packaging, waste electricals and, we expect, textiles. IMPROVING OPERATIONAL RECYCLING Our priority is to minimise waste generated, and ensure that it is disposed of legally and sent to landfill sites as a last resort. Most of the waste from our sites goes directly to recycling plants, and we Left with stocks of perishable items heading back are working with those sites which are not located into lockdown at short notice, we donated food near suitable recycling plants to find alternative to care homes, colleagues, foodbanks and to solutions to avoid the environmental cost of charities in our local store communities. In summer transporting waste. We strive for continuous 2021 we started a trial togive last-day-of-life improvement: we have introduced clearer food to customers and colleagues. Our aim is for ‘back-of-store’ signage and communication, no food to be thrown away. See page 64 for an making it easier to segregate waste, and we overview of other sustainability initiatives in Pausa. work closely with our logistics partners to reduce waste volumes and identify waste reprocessing Performance opportunities. Volumes of operational waste are measured by We now capture data on rubble and ground site, amalgamated for the whole business each waste generated by contractors during property month, and formally reported to the Group Board and store development activities and aim to find and Executive Board each quarter, alongside our solutions to repurpose this waste stream. recycling and landfill diversion rate. Food waste Our FY21 our operational recycling rate was 80% Across our store estate we have 152 Pausa (FY20: 78%) and in line with our target. Our landfill cafes and we run three Pausa restaurants for diversion rate declined by 1% to 96% (against colleagues at our distribution centres and store a target of 98%), owing to Covid-19-related support centre. During the year, we improved restrictions on our waste management partner. our ordering systems and rationalised our range Breakdown of waste generated by weight FY21 to reduce stock levels and potential food waste – particularly for short shelf-life products. Our new Pausa hub on our internal ‘Home Comforts’ Non-recyclable intranet drives consistency by giving colleagues waste 20% guidelines to successfully operate a Pausa cafe. Dry mixed This reduces waste by providing clear processes recycling 24% on presentation levels and ordering. In addition, Cardboard our reporting systems give the Pausa central and paper 51% ordering team better oversight and management Plastic 4% of perishable stocks and wastage. Food waste 1% Store refit waste 0% 19,000 portions of soup were donated to colleagues, foodbanks and charities in local store communities. 46 DUNELM GROUP PLCANNUAL REPORT & ACCOUNTS 2021