Cawleys appointed to manage Linmere’s waste

The Linmere consortium has appointed Cawleys to manage waste generated at its new community hub, the Farmstead. 

The Farmstead includes a café, bakery, shops, a village hall, adventure playground, and the consortium's project offices.

Cawleys will focus on “giving new life” to waste through sustainable recycling and resource management. 

The arrangement will mean the majority of the waste produced at the Farmstead will either be recycled or converted into energy. 

The Farmstead waste will be repurposed:

• Coffee grounds from the new cafe will be transformed into logs for wood burning stoves;

• Paper and card will be graded and baled before being sent to a paper mill to be pulped for new paper;

• Plastics will be shredded or granulated to produce a ‘regrind’ material that can be recycled into new plastic products;

• Metals will be sorted into ferrous and non-ferrous materials, melted and reformed into new metal products; and 

• Glass will be crushed, mixed and melted to create new glass items or used in building materials.


Food waste is anaerobically digested, creating green energy often exported to the National Grid.

The waste management service will collect from all areas of the Farmstead: the community hall, the café, and other retailers, along with bins near the children's play area.

Household waste on Linmere will be dealt with separately via the usual local council recycling service.

Nigel Reid, development director at Linmere, said: "We will be providing dedicated receptacles to enable users to sort recyclable materials from waste which has to go to landfill and will make it as easy as possible for everyone to do the right thing. This approach fits in with our wider Linmere ethos of enjoying and protecting the natural environment."

Anna Cawley, customer services director at Cawleys, added: "The local community is very close to our hearts and being part of this new community from the very start means we can help the development grow in a sustainable way by ensuring all the waste generated from the Farmstead is recycled to its maximum capacity. Our state-of-the-art materials recycling facility is at the very heart of our ethos of ensuring waste is put to good use and the fact that we are local and waste miles can be kept to a minimum is another bonus."

Image credit | Linmere