No waste will go to landfill: our promise

We have announced major plans to improve our environmental impact by sending no waste to landfill by 2028.

This is one of our core environment and sustainability commitments outlined in our business plan for 2023-28.

At the heart of the plan is a determination to lead the drive to decarbonisation, including cutting our own carbon emissions to zero by 2028 – 22 years ahead of UK government targets.

Delivering our electricity services in an environmentally sustainable way will benefit customers by reducing our carbon impact on them.

As well as the target for landfill, overall we will be cutting the tonnage of waste we produce by 30% over a five-year period.

Our starting point will be to avoid creating waste in the first place and if that isn’t achievable, reduce the amount as much as possible. The emphasis then would be on finding a way to reuse it and if that isn’t feasible, recycling will be the next option.

Andy Martyr-Icke, of our Environment Team, said: “As one of the region’s leading companies, we have a big role to play in sustainability and we’re not satisfied with just minimising our impact on the environment.

“We want to have a positive effect. Not only are we focusing on reducing waste sent to landfill to zero and increasing recycling, we will also significantly reduce the amount of waste we produce in the first place.”

We are working with manufacturers and suppliers to cut waste and the environmental impact of products and services we use.

This will include sourcing more goods made from recycled plastics and eliminating non-recyclable plastic. This will help reduce use of raw materials, carbon emissions and improve sustainability.

We will also be exploring ways we can turn waste materials into a resource that can be used by third parties, in addition to recycling more.

Alison Sleightholm, our Resources and External Affairs Director, said: “As well as being a net zero business by 2028, the most ambitious proposal in the sector, we have an unequivocal focus to be biodiverse and sustainable.

“In making these ambitious commitments regarding waste, we’re taking our regulator Ofgem’s requirements to the next level.”

Over the last six years we have reduced our business carbon footprint by 36% and the tonnage of waste produced by our operations going to landfill by 83%.

Our £6.7 billion business plan will result in huge investment in the local network to improve reliability and develop a smarter energy grid, enabling customers to connect their electric vehicles and heat pumps when they want to. We are also committed to keeping our portion of the energy bill broadly flat.