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| Industry | Recycling Waste Management |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | London, UK |
Area served | United Kingdom |
First Mile is a UK environmental business based in London. [1] It works with businesses to reduce their climate impact through services such as waste, recycling, and renewable energy.
First Mile was founded in 2004 by Bruce Bratley in Islington, North London. In the early days, trucks were parked near Bruce's house and he would often drive them himself to complete weekend collections.
The name is an inversion of the “Last Mile” concept associated with the last leg of telecommunications delivery. “First Mile" focuses on the first leg of recycling, collecting it from the end user in as convenient a way as possible, and delivering to local recycling facilities.
Between 2012 and 2014, the company acquired the competitors Cory Environmental, Revolution Recycling and All Clear.
In 2015 the head office moved from Essex Road railway station to the workspace Screenworks in Islington, North London. The main depot is located in Park Royal, northwest of the city. The company also has another office and depot in Birmingham.
The company today serves over 27,000 businesses across the UK. [2]
In 2020, during the Coronavirus pandemic, First Mile provided it's vans to deliver goods to hospitals, charities, and to support a plant start-up to deliver plants destined for waste to UK homes. [3]
First Mile has acquired a number of other environmental businesses;
- Cory Environmental's London waste collection business in 2012
- Revolution Recycling in 2014
- All Clear Recycling in 2013
- Giraffe Recycling in 2020 [4]
By 2017, First Mile had over 10,000 clients. It has attracted investments from private equity company Growth Capital Partners. [5] Zero emissions electric vans and cargo bikes were also introduced in 2017. Today, the entire fleet of over 70 vehicles is either zero or low-emissions, and the company was ready for ULEZ ahead of its implementation in April 2019. [6]
In 2018 the construction of the pre-sorting facility named the Sacktory was completed. Located at the depot in Park Royal, the Sacktory ensures a higher recycling rate by separating mixed recycling materials from general waste. An average of 100 tonnes of waste is processed at the facility every day. In its first year of operations, the Sacktory has prevented 250 tonnes of CO2 emissions and helped First Mile reach the Mayor's 65% recycling target for London.[ citation needed ]
The company continues to invest in recycling strategies. It is currently developing its RecycleLab, which will be completed in 2019. The RecycleLab analyses non-traditional materials to find recycling or sustainable end-of-life solutions.[ buzzword ] It also aims to help brands design products that can remain in the circular economy, following the waste management hierarchy developed by the Waste Framework Directive (WFD).
Recycling is the process of converting waste materials into new materials and objects. The recovery of energy from waste materials is often included in this concept. The recyclability of a material depends on its ability to reacquire the properties it had in its virgin or original state. It is an alternative to "conventional" waste disposal that can save material and help lower greenhouse gas emissions. Recycling can prevent the waste of potentially useful materials and reduce the consumption of fresh raw materials, thereby reducing: energy usage, air pollution, and water pollution.
Waste management includes the activities and actions required to manage waste from its inception to its final disposal. This includes the collection, transport, treatment and disposal of waste, together with monitoring and regulation of the waste management process and waste-related laws, technologies, economic mechanisms.
Incineration is a waste treatment process that involves the combustion of organic substances contained in waste materials. Industrial plants for waste incineration are commonly referred to as waste-to-energy facilities. Incineration and other high-temperature waste treatment systems are described as "thermal treatment". Incineration of waste materials converts the waste into ash, flue gas and heat. The ash is mostly formed by the inorganic constituents of the waste and may take the form of solid lumps or particulates carried by the flue gas. The flue gases must be cleaned of gaseous and particulate pollutants before they are dispersed into the atmosphere. In some cases, the heat that is generated by incineration can be used to generate electric power.
Beddington Zero Energy Development (BedZED) is an environmentally friendly housing development in Hackbridge, London, England. It is in the London Borough of Sutton, 2 miles (3 km) north-east of the town of Sutton itself. Designed to create zero carbon emissions, it was the first large scale community to do so.
Zero Waste is a set of principles focused on waste prevention that encourages the redesign of resource life cycles so that all products are reused. The goal is for no trash to be sent to landfills, incinerators or the ocean. Currently, only 9% of plastic is actually recycled. In a zero waste system, material will be reused until the optimum level of consumption. The definition adopted by the Zero Waste International Alliance (ZWIA) is:
Zero Waste: The conservation of all resources by means of responsible production, consumption, reuse and recovery of all products, packaging, and materials, without burning them, and without discharges to land, water or air that threaten the environment or human health.
Waste-to-energy (WtE) or energy-from-waste (EfW) is the process of generating energy in the form of electricity and/or heat from the primary treatment of waste, or the processing of waste into a fuel source. WtE is a form of energy recovery. Most WtE processes generate electricity and/or heat directly through combustion, or produce a combustible fuel commodity, such as methane, methanol, ethanol. or synthetic fuels.
Sustainable cities, urban sustainability, or eco-city is a city designed with consideration for social, economic, environmental impact, and resilient habitat for existing populations, without compromising the ability of future generations to experience the same. The UN Sustainable Development Goal 11 defines sustainable cities as those that are dedicated to achieving green sustainability, social sustainability and economic sustainability. They are committed to doing so by enabling opportunities for all through a design focused on inclusivity as well as maintaining a sustainable economic growth. The focus also includes minimizing required inputs of energy, water, and food, and drastically reducing waste, output of heat, air pollution – CO
2, methane, and water pollution. Richard Register first coined the term "ecocity" in his 1987 book Ecocity Berkeley: Building Cities for a Healthy Future, where he offers innovative city planning solutions that would work anywhere. Other leading figures who envisioned sustainable cities are architect Paul F Downton, who later founded the company Ecopolis Pty Ltd, as well as authors Timothy Beatley and Steffen Lehmann, who have written extensively on the subject. The field of industrial ecology is sometimes used in planning these cities.
Biodegradable waste includes any organic matter in waste which can be broken down into carbon dioxide, water, methane or simple organic molecules by micro-organisms and other living things by composting, aerobic digestion, anaerobic digestion or similar processes. In waste management, it also includes some inorganic materials which can be decomposed by bacteria. Such materials include gypsum and its products such as plasterboard and other simple organic sulfates which can decompose to yield hydrogen sulphide in anaerobic land-fill conditions.
The Sheffield Energy Recovery Facility, also known as the Energy from Waste Plant, is a modern incinerator which treats Sheffield's household waste. It is notable as it not only provides electricity from the combustion of waste but also supplies heat to a local district heating scheme, making it one of the most advanced, energy efficient incineration plants in the UK. In 2004, the district heating network prevented 15,108 tonnes of CO2 from being released from buildings across the city, compared to energy derived from fossil fuels. The incinerator is a 'static asset' owned by Sheffield City Council and operated by Veolia Environmental Services under a 35 year integrated waste management contract (IWMC)/PFI contract.
South East London Combined Heat and Power, better known as SELCHP, is a major energy from waste incineration plant located in South Bermondsey, London. It was designed to generate both heat and electricity. The plant can generate up to 35 MegaWatts of power using a steam turbine in electricity only mode. It can incinerate up to 420,000 tonnes per year of municipal solid waste.
Veolia Environmental Services, formerly Onyx Environnement, is a division of Veolia Environnement. It employs nearly 78,000 staff, has operations in 35 countries around the world, and generated revenues of nearly €9.02 billion in 2009.
Cory Riverside Energy has operated a waste disposal since 2011 in the London Borough of Bexley. It collects rubbish by barge at riverside wharves and burns it at a waste-to-energy incinerator in Belvedere, London.
In 2015, 43.5% of the United Kingdom's municipal waste was recycled, composted or broken down by anaerobic digestion. The majority of recycling undertaken in the United Kingdom is done by statutory authorities, although commercial and industrial waste is chiefly processed by private companies. Local Authorities are responsible for the collection of municipal waste and operate contracts which are usually kerbside collection schemes. The Household Waste Recycling Act 2003 required local authorities in England to provide every household with a separate collection of at least two types of recyclable materials by 2010. Recycling policy is devolved to the administrations of Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales who set their own targets, but all statistics are reported to Eurostat.
Covanta Holding Corporation is a public company headquartered in Morristown, New Jersey. It provides energy-from-waste and industrial waste management services. Most of its revenue comes from operating power plants that burn trash as fuel. Covanta charges a fee for waste disposal, sells electricity produced in the process, and recovers metal for recycling.
Teesside Energy from Waste plant is a municipal waste incinerator and waste-to-energy power station, which provides 29.2 megawatts (MW) of electricity for the National Grid by burning 390,000 tonnes of household and commercial waste a year. It is located on the River Tees at Haverton Hill, east of Billingham in North East England. Developed and built by NEM, a subsidiary of Northumbrian Water, the initial plant replaced the Portrack Incinerator and opened in 1998. Subsequently the facility became part of SITA, now Suez.
A zero-carbon city runs entirely on renewable energy; it has no carbon footprint and will in this respect not cause harm to the planet. Most cities throughout the world produce energy by burning coal, oil and gas, unintentionally emitting carbon. Almost every activity humans do involves burning one of these fossil fuels. To become a zero carbon city, an established modern city must collectively reduce emissions of greenhouse gases to zero and all practices that emit greenhouse gases must cease. Also, renewable energy must supersede other non-renewable energy sources and become the sole source of energy, so a zero-carbon city is a renewable-energy-economy city. This transition which includes decarbonising electricity and zero-emission transport, is undertaken as a response to climate change. Zero-carbon cities maintain optimal living conditions while eliminating environmental impact. Instead of using established cities, many developers are starting from scratch in order to create a zero-carbon city. This way they can make sure every aspect of a city contributes to it being carbon free.
In 2019, net greenhouse gas emissions in the United Kingdom (UK) were 454.8 million tonnes carbon dioxide equivalent, of which 80% was carbon dioxide. Since 1750 around 80 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide alone have been emitted in the UK. Emissions decreased in the 2010s due to the closure of almost all coal-fired power stations, but in 2018 emissions per person were around 7 tonnes, still somewhat above the world average.
Zero-carbon housing and zero-energy housing are terms used interchangeably to define single family dwellings with a very high energy efficiency rating. Zero-energy housing requires a very low amount of energy to provide the daily needs and functions for the family occupying the home.
Wong Kam-sing, GBS, JP, with his ancestral home in Shunde, Guangdong, is a Hong Kong architect. Before serving as the current Secretary for the Environment, Wong had held a number of public service positions, including the first Chairman of the Environment and Sustainable Development Committee of the Hong Kong Institute of Architects, the Chairman of the Professional Green Building Council and the Vice Chairman of the Hong Kong Green Building Council. He has contributed to the promotion and research of the standards and guidelines for sustainable built environment applicable to the high-density urban environment of Hong Kong.
Allerton waste recovery park is a waste recovery and incineration site located on a former quarry at Allerton Mauleverer, near Knaresborough, England. It is operated by AmeyCespa on behalf of North Yorkshire County Council and City of York Council, the site is capable of handling 320,000 tonnes of household waste per year.
