Recycling and Sustainability — Our Gardening Company Pledge

Our commitment to sustainable gardening and green recycling is central to how we operate every day. We set clear goals for waste reduction, reuse and material recovery across all our services, from domestic lawn care to large-scale landscape projects. This page explains our recycling targets, local transfer station use, charity partnerships, and the low-carbon vans that make our operations cleaner and more efficient. We use a range of recycling and sustainability approaches — from garden waste recycling to material reclamation — tailored to borough-level waste separation policies.

Recycling percentage target: we aim to achieve an 80% diversion rate of garden and site waste away from landfill by the end of 2028. That figure covers composting, mulching, wood chipping, and the recovery of topsoil and stone for reuse. Our recycling goal is ambitious but realistic: we focus on measurable actions, continuous improvement, and transparent reporting so that our sustainable gardening and recycling programmes deliver real environmental benefits.

Our recycling activities reflect local borough approaches to waste separation: many boroughs operate kerbside food caddies, mixed recycling bins, and separate garden-waste collections. We work within these systems to ensure materials are correctly sorted at source and then processed appropriately. Typical activities include:

• Collection of green bin material for municipal composting or anaerobic digestion
• Wood chipping for mulch and biomass recovery
• Soil and turf reclamation for reuse in landscaping projects
• Separation of recyclable packaging and metals at site

Local transfer stations and material flow

We partner with licensed local transfer stations and material recovery facilities (MRFs) to keep garden and landscape waste in the circular economy. Transfer stations act as aggregation points where we consolidate loads, separate contaminants, and direct materials to the best end-use — be that municipal composting, commercial organics processors, or specialist soil remediation plants. By using nearby transfer stations in multiple boroughs we cut haulage distances and lower our operational carbon footprint.

Partnerships with charities are a core part of our reuse strategy. Rather than sending usable plant stock, shrubs or good-quality topsoil to processors that might downcycle them, we collaborate with community groups, urban allotments and environmental charities so that surplus plants and restored soil benefit people and places locally. Our charity partnerships include:

• Donating potted perennials and shrubs to community gardens and school green spaces
• Supplying mulch and reclaimed compost to non-profit food-growing projects
• Running seasonal give-away days where reusable materials are transferred directly to social enterprises

These relationships create stronger local ecosystems for sustainable landscaping and ensure materials remain productive rather than becoming waste.

Low-carbon vans and fleet strategy

Our fleet transition to low-emission vehicles is a practical part of our sustainability agenda. We operate a mix of electric vans, plug-in hybrids and efficient diesel vehicles where electrification is not yet viable. Telematics, optimized routing and load consolidation help us reduce mileage and idle times. In addition to lowering CO2 emissions, these measures reduce local air pollution in busy borough streets and residential areas.

Operational measures that support our low-carbon goals include:

• Scheduled multi-stop routes matched to transfer station opening times to avoid extra miles
• Load optimisation to minimise trips and improve vehicle utilisation
• Driver training in eco-driving to cut fuel use and emissions

We monitor progress with quarterly sustainability reports that track our recycling percentage, vehicle fuel use, and the volumes of material diverted to reuse or composting. Transparency is key: we publish aggregated metrics to show how close we are to our 80% recycling and reuse target and where further gains can be made, whether through more partnerships, new collection systems, or investment in equipment like mobile wood chippers and on-site compost bays.

Community engagement and staff training round out our approach. Our crews receive regular training on the borough-specific rules for waste separation — for example the differences between mixed recycling and glass-only streams, or the correct handling of biodegradable bags versus non-compostable plastics — so that contamination rates stay low and more material can be reclaimed. We also support community workshops and local planting projects that show how reclaimed compost and mulch are put back into the landscape to improve soils, sequester carbon and reduce the need for synthetic inputs.

In summary, our recycling and sustainability work combines an explicit recycling percentage target, use of local transfer stations, active partnerships with charities and community groups, and a low-carbon vehicle fleet to deliver practical environmental outcomes. By aligning with borough-level waste separation systems and investing in people, equipment and partnerships, we keep garden waste productive, reduce emissions, and help create greener, healthier neighbourhoods.