Recycling and Sustainability
Our commitment to recycling and sustainability is built around practical action, measurable goals, and everyday choices that reduce waste. We aim to achieve a recycling percentage target of 85%, supporting a cleaner, more resource-efficient future through careful sorting, smarter collections, and responsible disposal. By improving how materials are separated and recovered, we help keep useful items in circulation for longer and reduce the amount sent to landfill or energy recovery.
This approach to sustainable recycling is shaped by the needs of local communities and the way neighbourhoods already handle waste separation. In many boroughs, mixed recycling is collected alongside food waste, garden waste, and residual rubbish, with residents increasingly encouraged to sort items more carefully at the source. That boroughs-led approach helps improve contamination rates and supports better recovery of paper, cardboard, cans, plastics, and glass. It also makes it easier to identify which materials can be reused, refurbished, or processed into new products.
We work closely with local transfer stations so collected material can be moved efficiently to sorting and processing facilities. These sites play an important role in modern recycling services, helping to consolidate loads, reduce unnecessary mileage, and improve the quality of separated waste streams. When waste is handled closer to its point of origin, there is less disruption, better traffic management, and a stronger chance of diverting recyclable items away from disposal routes.
Our recycling and sustainability strategy also includes partnerships with charities that can pass on suitable items for reuse. Furniture, clothing, books, household goods, and office items often have a second life through charitable channels, reducing demand for new materials and supporting community initiatives at the same time. This reuse-first mindset is an important part of a wider circular economy, where products are repaired, repurposed, or redistributed before being considered for recycling.
Smarter Collection and Lower-Impact Transport
To reduce our environmental footprint, we are increasing the use of low-carbon vans across our collection routes. These vehicles help cut emissions linked to local transport while still providing reliable waste handling for homes, businesses, and communal sites. In busy urban areas, where stop-start traffic can raise fuel use, cleaner vehicles make a meaningful difference. They are especially effective when paired with route planning that minimises backtracking and consolidates collections in a more efficient way.
Recycling in borough environments can vary depending on property type and space limitations, so flexibility matters. Flats, terraced streets, retail units, and offices all produce different waste streams, and boroughs often encourage separate containers for dry mixed recycling, food waste, and general waste. We support these methods by helping people keep recyclables uncontaminated, which improves the quality of the material we send onward. Better separation at the point of disposal means more can be recovered and less is lost to the wrong bin.
What We Recycle and Recover
A strong recycling and sustainability programme depends on handling a wide range of materials responsibly. Common streams include cardboard, office paper, newspapers, plastics, metals, glass, and certain electrical items, alongside bulky items that can often be dismantled for parts and raw materials. Where possible, we also support the recovery of wood, textiles, and reusable fixtures from clearance work. This broad mix helps reduce waste volumes while creating more opportunities for reuse and material recovery.
In some local areas, borough-wide separation campaigns have made residents more aware of how to sort everyday waste, and that awareness supports better outcomes for all involved. For example, paper and card can be kept clean and dry, plastics can be grouped by accepted local rules, and food waste can be isolated for specialist processing. These simple actions help avoid cross-contamination and improve the efficiency of recycling and sustainability operations from collection through to sorting.
We also value the role of community reuse and donation routes in extending the life of items that are still usable. By working with charities and reuse partners, we can divert suitable goods from disposal and help them benefit families, community projects, and social enterprises. This is a practical way to combine waste reduction with social value, creating positive outcomes beyond environmental savings alone.
Our commitment to sustainability does not stop at collection. We continue to review how routes are planned, how loads are consolidated, and how vehicles are powered, with low-carbon vans remaining a key part of that improvement. As newer technologies become available, we aim to reduce emissions further while maintaining dependable service. This includes focusing on quieter, cleaner urban collections that are better suited to dense borough streets and shared-use spaces.
We believe effective recycling management must be both practical and responsive. That means understanding how local transfer stations, charity partnerships, and borough-level separation systems all work together. It also means recognising that good recycling outcomes depend on the people and organisations involved in the process, from residents and businesses to sorting teams and reprocessing facilities. Each stage contributes to a cleaner material stream and a more sustainable result.
Looking ahead, our recycling and sustainability efforts will continue to focus on measurable improvements, including our 85% recycling target, stronger reuse partnerships, and lower-emission transport. By combining careful separation, efficient transfer, and responsible onward processing, we can keep valuable materials in use for longer and reduce the environmental impact of waste management. This is a straightforward but effective way to support greener boroughs, cleaner streets, and a more circular local economy.
