How London’s waste is powering the future!

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Powerday have set a new standard for recycling and waste management in London (Powerday)

Powerday is a Business Reporter client.

Our leading London waste management company was founded on the principle of sending zero non-hazardous waste to landfill. From our beginning, we have invested heavily in state of-the-art recycling and recovery infrastructure to achieve this and set a new standard for recycling and waste management services in London.

Reducing the environmental impact of the UK’s waste

Our operations are focused on recycling as much as possible of the waste we receive from a largely construction industry client base. In 2022 we partnered with some of the UK’s most forwarding-thinking material re-processors to keep waste plastics in the circular economy, extending the lifecycle of, and reducing the carbon emissions associated with, these materials.

Despite a firm commitment to moving waste materials up the waste hierarchy, we are realistic. We receive huge quantities of non-recyclable waste so have always had to think beyond recycling to reduce the environmental impact of the UK’s waste. This has led to huge investment in our recovery capabilities, which sees us produce around 100,000 tonnes of refuse-derived fuel from clients’ residual material each year. This high-quality product goes to create both heat and power at some of the most efficient energy-from-waste plants across Europe.

For a company as driven as Powerday, the social value generated through these day-to-day operations isn’t enough. We have been measuring our carbon footprint and taking steps to reduce our carbon emissions for several years. We have now gone much further, and are excited to have recently announced our ambitious Net Zero target for Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2040, with interim targets of a 20 per cent reduction in 2023, 30 per cent by 2026 and 50 per cent by 2030 against a 2021 baseline. We have registered our well- mapped-out commitment with the SME Climate Hub to support the UN Race to Zero. As well as taking steps to reduce our Scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions by 20 per cent this year, we are also looking to understand our Scope 3 emissions to be able to set an equally ambitious target for these by the end of 2024.

Using our sustained growth to support our communities

From purchasing our first skip loader in 1977 and our first waste transfer station in 1982, Powerday today operates three materials recycling facilities, with six London sites in total, licensed to process more than 3.5 million tonnes of waste a year. A fleet of 90 vehicles service businesses across London and the South East seven days a week and all six of our sites offer tipping to other licensed waste carriers. We believe our independent family business has a winning formula for dealing with the UK’s waste, turning over £52 million in our last financial year, but it’s not just these achievements that make our company stand out.

Our Chairman and founder, Mick Crossan, firmly believes that businesses can and should have a positive impact on the communities in which they operate. He is passionate about the positive impact of sport on health and wellbeing and at Powerday we have long used our sustained growth to support the health and wellbeing of local communities, particularly disadvantaged young Londoners, in this way.

Since 2013, we have sourced more than £14 million to invest in London boxing clubs in hard-to-reach areas, helping more than 80 estate-based boxing venues and intervention projects and enabling 400 volunteers to do more for their communities. The impact has been profound, improving wellbeing for more than 50,000 participants in the most marginalised and socio-economically challenged areas of London, negating antisocial behaviour and contributing towards safer communities. We are hugely proud to support voluntary community clubs such as Repton (Tower Hamlets), West Ham (Newham) and Dagenham Police (Dagenham and Redbridge) who truly are the social glue of their communities.

Powering the future

Powerday is driven to not only ensure financial success but to do so responsibly, benefiting the environment and our local communities – particularly young Londoners, who are the lifeblood and future of our capital city. We believe we generate social value well beyond that to be expected of a business of our size, and that doing so should become the norm for all organisations, large and small. We are living proof that responsible business and business growth can go hand in hand, and that London’s waste really can power our future.

To find out more, visit www.powerday.co.uk