Today, Friday March 18, at GP Plantscape we are joining people and businesses around the world as they celebrate Global Recycling Day.

The last decade has been the warmest on record and the impacts of the rise in temperature are being felt around the world with floods, fires and storms becoming more frequent and violent occurrences.

Prior to COP26, founding president of the Global Recycling Foundation, Ranjit Baxi, said: “Recycling is the only global initiative which can be instantly deployed throughout the world to help combat climate change. Every government and every individual can play their part without delay and by doing so will have an immediate impact on the greatest threat facing our planet.”

The recent climate change conference, which took place on our doorstep, has no doubt heightened the awareness of businesses to their responsibility to continually review operations in order to minimise their impact on the environment.

At GP Plantscape we are committed to a recycling agenda to continue to reduce and recycle the waste generated in our enterprise.

Green waste is the most significant by product of our operation and over the last 20 years we have been diverting this material from landfill to recycling. Grass cuttings, hedge trimmings, leaves, tree branches and shrubs are among the materials which are collected daily from our service activities and for the last two decades material gathered at our customers sites has been processed into an organic compost at recycling centres throughout Scotland.

The green waste, or raw material, is composted in large vessels under strictly controlled conditions to BSI PAS100 standards, producing a nutrient rich compost which provides additional benefits to the environment. The compost is subsequently used as a soil conditioner in our landscaping operations and according to research, organic compost increases the amount of carbon stored in the soil and reduces greenhouse gas emissions. Using an organic soil conditioner can also reduce the requirement for costly chemical-based fertilisers which can pose a threat to the environment. Therefore, by redirecting our green waste not only do we reduce our contribution to landfill, we can operate more sustainability and pass these benefits onto our clients.

Not all our green waste ends up at a recycling centre however, as more equally sustainable solutions are being realised. Trees felled on sites as part of a canopy reduction or perhaps because of storm damage produce a significant amount of off cut wood which can be used to create log piles which will support a wide range of wildlife and increase biodiversity. Material can also be chipped on site to produce an effective mulch for shrub beds or as a decorative top dressing.

Although, as we have highlighted, green waste is a prime recycling focus at GP Plantscape we continue to actively monitor all the waste produced in our business and strive in the first instance to reduce this wherever possible and where waste elimination is not yet manageable, to maximise the opportunities for recycling.