Lord’s seeks recycling boost through new partnership

Lord’s Cricket Ground is seeking to increase recycling rates by 50-60% annually through a wide-ranging partnership with Veolia.

The global resource management company will assist the London venue in boosting its sustainability credentials and recycling rates by capturing key materials through the introduction of onsite systems to manage the streams covering food, dry mixed recycling and glass, and implementing new initiatives for processing coffee cups and hand towels. Collected food waste will be used to generate low carbon energy and soil improvement products.

Hosting around half a million visitors each year, Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), the owners of Lord’s, are now looking to extend sustainability further to meet their environmental sustainability targets in alignment with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, by 2030.

Stuart Dunlop, the MCC’s sustainability and accessibility manager, said: “We are delighted to be teaming up with Veolia in what is already proving to be a successful partnership.

“Managing the waste generated at Lord’s is a major operation, and with Veolia bringing its industry-leading expertise in resource management, we are showcasing that MCC is taking sustainability seriously. We have set ambitious targets for our recycling rates and are aiming to be net zero carbon, and we’re sure our collaboration with Veolia will accelerate us towards these goals.”

Carbon reductions of around 40% will be gained from deploying an electric fleet of vehicles to remove the recycling from site, and using Veolia’s local facilities, including Southwark to process the waste.

The measures will continue the venue’s existing zero waste sent to landfill status by treating unrecyclable materials at SELCHP, Veolia’s Energy Recovery Facility, to generate electricity for the grid and heat for the communities connected to the 2,800-home district heating scheme.

Simon Futcher, Veolia’s commercial business development director, said: “Getting this latest partnership across the line at the Home of Cricket is another example of how we can deliver real sustainability and carbon reductions to major sporting venues.

“By identifying and developing new operations to treat waste at big events, we can close the loop and advance the circular economy. Through our SELCHP facility, we can also transform unrecyclable items into energy, and even the resulting ashes can be transformed into new construction materials.”

Lord’s switched to 100% renewable electricity in October 2016, then switched to 100% wind power a year later. The power is generated by the London Array, the second biggest off-shore wind farm in the world, located at the mouth of the Thames Estuary.