Insight from Sarah Butcher, Commercial Manager at Welfare Hire Nationwide
With Global Recycling Day taking place on 18th March 2025, it’s time to shine a spotlight on how the rail industry can embrace more sustainable water practices. While carbon emissions often dominate the sustainability conversation, there’s another critical resource we need to be smarter about: water.
The stats don’t lie
Recent industry research shows that 47% of construction executives now consider sustainability a top priority. That’s an encouraging statistic, but the reality is most rail construction sites still use far more water than necessary.
At Welfare Hire Nationwide, we’re leading the charge in revolutionising water conservation. We believe effective water management isn’t just an optional extra; it’s essential to any meaningful sustainability strategy.
Working across rail infrastructure projects throughout the UK, we’ve seen firsthand how the right technology can transform water usage, creating greener sites and delivering significant cost savings simultaneously.
The Smart Water Revolution on Rail Sites
When thinking about sustainability on rail projects, mobile welfare units might not be your first consideration. But these essential facilities, used daily by hundreds of workers across the network, represent a huge opportunity to reduce water waste through intelligent design and smart technology.
Our ECOXi welfare unit is a unique innovation for rail construction sites and the ideal facility for prioritising water conservation. It’s equipped with a comprehensive Smart Water System that delivers meaningful water savings through four game-changing innovations:
1. Rainwater harvesting: Nature’s free resource
Britain’s famously wet weather gives us the perfect opportunity to put rainwater to good use. Our ECOXi mobile welfare units feature built-in rainwater harvesting systems that capture and filter rainwater, directing it straight into storage tanks for onsite use.
This is a game-changer for rail projects in remote locations where water access is limited and expensive. By capturing rainfall directly on site, we dramatically reduce the need for fresh water deliveries, cutting both costs and carbon emissions from transport vehicles.
2. Grey water recycling: Second chances matter
On typical rail construction sites, grey water from handwashing is simply discarded. What a waste! This water is perfectly suitable for toilet flushing when properly filtered.
Our Smart Water System gives water a second life through innovative grey water recycling technology. Water is used twice, first for handwashing, then for toilet flushing. For long-term rail infrastructure projects with dozens of staff using facilities daily, this creates enormous water savings over the project lifetime.
3. XL water tanks: Maximising capacity, minimising servicing
Water conservation isn’t just about using less water, it’s about reducing the resources needed to service welfare facilities. Traditional units have limited capacity, requiring frequent (and expensive) servicing trips.
Our ECOXi units feature extra-large water tanks that take more than twice as long to reach capacity compared to standard units. For rail projects in difficult-to-access areas like cuttings or remote track sections, this means far fewer service vehicle movements—reducing disruption, costs, and emissions.
4. Smart telemetry: Intelligence at your fingertips
Effective resource management demands accurate data. That’s why our Smart Water System incorporates advanced telemetry, putting real-time monitoring power in project managers’ hands.
This technology has proven invaluable on complex rail projects, where site managers can check tank levels remotely, schedule servicing precisely when needed, and identify any unusual water usage patterns that might indicate leaks or wastage.
Real results, not just promises
These technologies aren’t just talk; our solutions are delivering measurable benefits on rail sites nationwide right now. On recent signalling upgrade projects, our clients reported up to 60% reduction in service vehicle movements thanks to our XL tank capacity and water recycling capabilities.
For trackside neighbours, this means less disturbance; for contractors, it means significant cost savings; and for the environment, it means dramatically reduced vehicle emissions.
Building a sustainable future
As an industry, we’re making progress toward more sustainable operations, but there’s still much to accomplish. Water conservation represents a straightforward win that delivers immediate environmental benefits while also improving the bottom line.
This Global Recycling Day, we’re challenging rail contractors and managers to take a hard look at how their site welfare facilities could contribute to water conservation efforts. By embracing innovative technologies like rainwater harvesting and grey water recycling, we can make railway construction more sustainable while simultaneously creating more efficient, cost-effective sites.
Small changes, big impact
At Welfare Hire Nationwide, we believe in transforming site welfare for the better. The ECOXi welfare unit is proof that small changes make a big difference: because better water management means a better future for everyone.
Let’s start thinking differently about water on our rail sites. Because our planet deserves it.
Want to see the ECOXi in action? Check out the full specs at: www.kellinggroup.com/welfare-hire
