Combating Climate Change

Why?

In 2019 we made a commitment to improve our green credentials and set the goal of operating a Carbon Neutral service.

To help us achieve our ultimate goal, we partnered with Forest Carbon.

After calculating the Carbon we use we looked at ways we could reduce our Carbon Footprint. We now run the most efficient HGV fleet possible and use the latest technology to ensure collections are made in the most efficient way.

We empty over 12,000 bins per week. None of this waste is sent to landfill; 60 per cent is recycled into new materials, and 40 per cent is used to create energy.

Our service Carbon Footprint is made up from:

• Modern waste collection vehicles
• Staff travel in company cars
• Energy used in our office and depot

Carbon Offsetting - What we have done:

Working with Forest Carbon we have offset our 2021/22 Carbon emissions in two ways.

• Firstly, using credits supporting a deforestation avoidance project in Brazil, certified under the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS).
• We have also continued to support UK tree planting that will mitigate our Carbon footprint over the years to come. In addition to the 6000 trees planted in 2019 we have planted another 896 trees at Rarichie, Scotland – one tree for every CO2t we have offset using VCS credits.

International Project:

Location: Jurua Amazonian Rainforest Conservation, Brazil Standards: REDD+REDD+, VCS, CCB Gold

Description: The project we are supporting prevents deforestation in 28 000 hectares of pristine rainforest in the western Acre state, Brazil. The area is home to the Amazon basin and some of the world’s most biodiverse habitats.

Our project works with communities and local groups and uses carbon revenues to help protect ecosystem services. There are 35 communities living inside the project area, all in close proximity to the northern banks of the Valparaiso River, a major tributary of the Amazon.

Sustainable Development Goals: In addition to delivering approximately 150 000 tonnes of emissions reductions each year to take climate action, the project also delivers a number of other sustainable development benefits:

• Life on Land: A key part of the project is the land owners working with families to give them formal rights to individual parcels of land in return for assistance in preventing deforestation
• Zero Hunger: The local farmers association is being supported through the project to help to build a local crop processing plant, and new equipment to increase the productivity of the lands.

UK Tree Planting

In 2019, we started to plant our very own forest at Thrimby Pasture, Lowther. The area was formerly high-intensity arable land, and this has now been converted into a sustainable forest:

• Four hectares of woodland.
• 6,138 planted trees.
• Equates 1,733 tonnes of CO2 capture.

The trees we have planted are a mix of species, including birch, hazel, sycamore, hawthorn and spruce.

Alongside carbon capture, there are additional benefits to the Forge Forest. The trees provide a new habitat for wildlife, improve water quality, and help with flood mitigation.
In 2021 we continued to support UK tree planting that will mitigate our Carbon footprint over the years to come.

In addition to the 6000 trees planted in 2019 we have planted another 896 trees at Rarichie, Scotland – one tree for every CO2t we have offset using VCS credits.
This project borders the Rosemarkie to Shandwick Coast Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).

This is a productive coniferous woodland which has been sensitively designed through extensive consultation to include large areas of open ground and scattered Birch and Scots Pine. Approximately 90.83 ha of the productive area has been planted with Sitka Spruce with approximately 57.24 ha planted with diverse conifers and 41.75 ha with native Scots pine or broadleaves.