The WUWM working group on waste management was chaired by Michel Escoffier, of FFMIN, Rungis Market, and he told the union’s conference in Bremen last month that the figures gleaned from the survey suggest that the world’s wholesale markets produce in the region of 500,000 tonnes of waste each year.
Escoffier’s team sent questionnaires to markets across the globe asking for detailed information on the volume and constitution of waste in each market and, where applicable, what steps were being taken to remove and recycle or destroy that waste. For the most part, it received a high level of co-operation. However, all but two UK wholesale markets summarily failed to respond.
By ascertaining current practices, the team aims to establish a WUWM benchmark and share experiences with members. The lack of input from UK centres stands out, as some 59 markets, from 18 countries (53 from the EU) responded, including most of the major markets in central and northern Europe.
Escoffier also singled out southern European markets when unveiling the results at last month’s WUWM Conference in Bremen, Germany. He says: “This is still a representative survey. There are many ways we could interpret the lack of response from the UK and southern Europe. We expected more answers and were promised them. The environment is certainly in greater focus in northern Europe, but it might be that markets in these countries do not have the same knowledge of their waste issues.
“I hope it is not due to a lack of interest in this very important field, that the situation will change and that we will soon have answers for all parts of Europe.”
Respondents to the survey reported they dispose of 320,000t of waste a year - the figure from which the overall 500,000t estimate sprung - which equates to between 1.5 and two per cent of overall volume throughput. Collection and disposal costs were a staggering €40 million (£27.1m) or an average of €84 a tonne.
“That represents somewhere between five and 10 per cent of the total operating costs of wholesale market authorities,” Escoffier says. “In spite of this, it was surprising to find out how few markets had a detailed breakdown of their waste costs. Only 50 per cent knew the cost of sorting waste and less than 30 per cent knew precisely what was in their waste bins.” He adds that all wholesale markets can improve their performance in this “complicated and expensive activity”.
Most markets that participated, and particularly the larger market sites, are contracting out all or part of their waste management activities. Those markets that take the subcontracting option pay an average of €78.6 a tonne, whereas those that carry out their activities internally are paying an average of €115.2 a tonne. On the face of it, that disparity would make a significant difference to service charges and rent levels, although as we will see later, there are ways to amortise the initial costs of an internal system.
On a positive note, wholesale markets are performing well on a recycling front. Around 43 per cent (135,000t) of markets’ waste is being recycled, which is “pretty good”, according to Escoffier. However, he added: “The costs of recycling are being almost totally ignored.”
Around 50 per cent of unrecycled waste, the research project discovered, still goes to landfill, at a cost of €70 a tonne, while 30 per cent is incinerated at €119 a tonne. The rest is disposed of in various ways, and the total cost of getting rid of unrecycled materials was calculated at €23m a year.
As an example of a market that has addressed its waste issues and also has begun to turn waste into a revenue stream, delegates in Bremen were told that Glasgow City Council is saving £2,500-£3,000 a week in operating costs since installing a HotRot composting system for waste disposal. But, said HotRot Composting Systems managing director George Pottinger, not enough wholesale markets take waste management seriously enough.
The New Zealand company has researched its potential customer network around the world and Pottinger told market managers in Bremen: “Less than 30 per cent of you have done a waste audit, which is the first part of a waste reduction plan. Is that good business practice?
“Up to 70 per cent of all market waste is organic and could be composted,” he said, adding that the rising costs and prohibition in some countries of landfill render composting a more attractive proposition by the year. But the WUWM study results, he reflected, illustrate his company’s findings from its own market research - only a few know the true extent of the costs involved.
“All is certainly not lost,” says Pottinger. “We have found that 70 per cent of markets either have, or plan to have, a waste management plan.”
Although it has been calculated that the costs per tonne of collecting and processing waste rise appreciably when done on site, as compared with subcontracting, but the HotRot system creates fine compost with a good sell-on value. “The partnership between HotRot and Glasgow markets required a great leap of faith [from Glasgow markets manager Graham Wallace]. Our role is not just to deliver a system, but one that is personalised to the type of waste stream, volume of waste and how that waste is delivered.”
Wallace says that while the direct costs using HotRot increase, there is huge potential for recouping that cost and more: “Would we do it again? Yes we would, it works,” he says.
On top of waste, there is a need for a general standard for wholesale markets, to bring facilities up to the same mark as the tenants that use them, says Rolf-Otto Wieckhoff, UBW, Hamburg.
Wieckoff is involved in the introduction of the International Food Standard (IFS) in the food industry. The project was launched in mid-June and aims to implement hygiene management system by the end of this year.
Wholesale market operators themselves do not market food. Instead, they support and foster free trade between suppliers and customers, he says. Due to their service provider function, the duties of a wholesale market operator differ substantially from those of wholesalers in respect of product hygiene and quality, despite the interlocking relationship between them. The risks are nevertheless the same. The hygiene management system must be established in compliance with EC Regulations 178/2002 and 852/2004.
“Wholesalers in the markets are benchmarking themselves against various standards, but the environment in which they are trading has not been considered to date,” he says. “Every market building is made available for use and operators are expected to ensure that they trade within accepted stipulations. But look at the range of safety risks in every market; there are many.
“I am sure that the wholesale markets in their present state have a future, but surely it is time that the buildings live up to the same standards as the companies that trade within them. We [the market authorities] have to take part in that process.”
Wolf Rohde, managing director of Frankfurt Market, agrees: “Certification [for tenants] is not worth anything if their surroundings are not certified too. I would certainly like to be certified to the same standards as my tenants and the sooner there is a guideline to monitor and check against, the sooner we rid ourselves of problems.
“I would very much like to be certified to exactly the same levels as the traders in our market - we could also then begin to use this in our promotional efforts.”
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