New e-bike waste collection aims to boost recycling and improve air quality


Picture - Positively Putney

An e-bike waste collection service has been launched to provide convenient, green collections to businesses in Putney

‘Putney Pedals’ aims to boost recycling and improve air quality on the High Street with businesses being encouraged to get greener through recycling collections. Local shops are being urged to work together to share waste collections

The new service has been set up by Positively Putney, with support from the London Waste and Recycling Board (LWARB), and also aims to reduce traffic congestion in a high street that regularly breaches its annual air pollution limits in the first month of the year.

A distinctive blue cargo bike has been kitted out to pick up recycling and rubbish from retailers and other businesses around Putney and take it to a storage space owned by the council, where it will be collected and processed by sustainable recycling experts, Paper Round. Two enthusiastic cyclists have now joined the team and will be talking to businesses in the neighbourhood over the coming weeks, hoping to sign up customers.

The service was launched following feedback from local traders and business owners who have struggled to find commercial waste contractors who can collect from their premises at a convenient time. The e-bikes can collect recycling and waste throughout the day, as they are not restricted by council time bands, and have the added benefit of being able to negotiate heavy traffic without adding to the pollution.

Positively Putney say that the pioneering new service will reduced vehicle movements because the waste is taken to one site by a single vehicle. It will also offer reduced cost disposal of waste meaning recycling rates should increase and the flexible collection times means that more waste will be taken from the high street during the course of the day.

Toby Lewin-Lloyd, Chair of Positively Putney Business Improvement District, said, “This project has taken a while to come to fruition – but it’s been worth the wait. We were well aware of the issues that our local businesses faced, and knew we needed to find a solution that worked for them and for the neighbourhood as a whole. This new scheme is a huge improvement on the current set-up and has the added benefit of helping reduce damaging air pollution around the high street. I’m certain that local traders will welcome being free from collection headaches so that they can concentrate on running their businesses.”

Sarah Craddock, Commercial Waste Manager at LWARB, said,. “There are a number of excellent waste consolidation schemes across the capital, but this is unique for its innovative approach to collection which offers benefits to businesses as well as the wider community. We’re hoping to show it’s a model that could be adopted more widely as part of London’s green recovery.”

October 9, 2020