Zero Hero! Shining the spotlight on Geraldine Deayton.
Years ago, 22 in fact, a factory in Gwent, Wales hit upon an ingenious recycling module that re-purposed “waste” materials into bales making them a saleable commodity. The idea came from Panasonic’s environment department employee Geraldine Deayton’s hobby of creating collage paintings based on Monet’s Water Lilies out of factory waste.
Geraldine saw a practical approach to recycling and a creative business solution in the practice of waste management. A waste collection system for ‘clean’ materials – paper, plastic, cardboard, wood and metal – was already in place but Geraldine decided staff needed motivating to make greater use of colour-coded bins around the factory for waste collection separation. The company then contacted Scrapstore, a UK-wide charity which uses vast quantities of non-toxic waste which it sells on to schools and playgroups.
This developed into a programme, with a baler machine installed on site and a waste management network of local business established. Within eight months, through this initiative 48 tons of waste had been collected and delivered. Subsequent results were spectacular with the company drawing a profit, making landfill cost savings and representing a recycling rate of 91%.
We at AM Environmental think she’s an artful pioneer of zero to landfill and really showed this sector the “Monet”..!
