Commercial Waste Disposal London

If you catch sight today of one of Westminster City Council’s fleet of commercial waste collection trucks, spare a thought for its busy day covering miles of London streets. You would probably be amazed if you knew quite what distance and area each truck covers.

It prompted us to think about how we could create some means of visualising what we do for business waste users across the area.

We were fortunate to feature in a BBC programme “Britain from Above” about waste collection across London a few years ago. They created a great video clip that showed a huge flow of trucks leaving depots, collecting the waste from businesses and taking it to recycling and waste processing centres. And then starting the cycle all over again…

We don’t quite have the BBC’s budget, so we had to find another way.

Now, through the wonders of GPS we have put together an up-to-date 1-minute video that shows each vehicle’s route throughout a typical daily cycle of waste collection and disposal.*

The video contrasts the intensive nature of waste collection throughout Westminster and the journeys in and out of the area. Those excursions from the central area are due to the Commercial Waste Service’s policy to recycle whatever it can – including food waste. Trucks with recyclable materials head for the recycling centres and the trucks with general waste go to the “energy from waste” plant powering public transport and London homes and businesses.

We hope that this helps appreciate what is involved in the whole process of waste collection and waste disposal – whether it is a part you see, or a part that is happening out of sight.

* With thanks to Sara at Veolia Westminster for her mapping and video production skills.

New Guide: We have just published a 5-step guide on how to get started with waste collections in Westminster. If you would like to obtain a copy then please click on the link below: