Recycling and Sustainability for Gardeners Erith

Gardeners Erith is committed to creating an eco-friendly waste disposal area and a sustainable rubbish gardening area that supports the local community and the wider borough. We work with the realistic aim of increasing on-site reuse, lowering transport emissions, and aligning our practices with the borough’s waste separation approach so green waste, food waste and dry recycling are handled responsibly. Our vision is simple: reduce landfill, increase local recycling, and keep Erith’s green spaces healthy.

Our Recycling Percentage Target

We have set a clear recycling percentage target as part of our sustainability plan: a 65% recycling and reuse rate for garden and green-related waste by 2028, moving steadily upward year-on-year. This target includes composting, wood chipping for mulch, metal and plastic pot recovery, and material reuse through charity partnerships and community schemes. By combining kerbside practices with on-site segregation, Erith gardeners can contribute to this measurable improvement.

To reach this target we use best-practice separation at source: separate bins for green waste, mixed recyclables and general residual waste, plus a dedicated container for reusable pots and tools. This mirrors the borough’s approach to waste separation, which encourages residents and local businesses to sort food, garden and dry recyclable materials at the kerbside before collections.

Local Transfer Stations and Civic Amenity Sites

We route sorted materials to authorised local transfer stations and civic amenity sites that accept green waste, wood, soil, and construction rubble from small landscaping projects. Where appropriate we use the London Borough of Bexley’s designated transfer routes and nearby civic facilities to ensure the chain of custody remains transparent and low-impact. Using transfer stations reduces double handling and allows more materials to be recovered or sent for environmentally preferred processing.

On-site Practices and Low-Carbon Transport

On every job, our Erith garden teams use a combination of manual segregation and compact on-site bins to keep recyclable material clean. For collection and transport we deploy low-carbon vans — a mixed fleet of electric vehicles and the latest low-emission hybrids — to shrink our operational carbon footprint. These vehicles support shorter transfer runs to local stations and enable more efficient multi-drop routes across the area, cutting fuel use and pollution.

• Electric vans for daily runs within Erith and neighbouring wards
• Hybrid support vehicles for heavier or longer tasks
• Route optimisation software to minimise mileage

Partnerships with Charities and Community Groups

We maintain formal partnerships with local charities, social enterprises and allotment groups to give reuse a priority. Pots, planters, tools and serviceable timber are diverted from disposal and offered to community projects or collected by charity partners for refurbishment. These collaborative efforts increase our reuse rates and support local food-growing initiatives and training programmes.

Examples of the types of recycling activity we prioritise include: donating usable garden equipment, chipping prunings into mulch for community beds, composting soft green waste for allotment groups, and segregating soil and rubble for recovery where permitted. This approach reduces the burden on local transfer stations and returns valuable organic matter to the soil.

Practical commitments:

• Proactively offer reusable items to charity partners before scheduling a collection.
• Provide clear labelling of on-site separation points so teams and clients know what is recyclable.
• Work with borough services to follow local rules for hazardous materials, contaminated soil and bulky items.

Monitoring, Reporting and Continuous Improvement

We monitor volumes of material diverted from landfill and report progress against our 65% recycling target in internal sustainability reviews. Data from transfer stations and charity partners helps validate recycling tonnages, while vehicle telematics allow us to quantify carbon reductions from our low-emission vans. By tracking this information, Gardeners Erith adapts practices and invests in technologies that raise reuse and recycling rates.

Community Engagement and Education

Although we don’t publish step-by-step guides, we actively engage with local residents and council initiatives to promote the borough’s separation approach and encourage neighbours to support on-site segregation when work is carried out. Simple requests — like setting aside pots or marking compostable material — help our teams keep more material in the circular economy.

Final note: Our combined strategy of reliable sorting, strong charity partnerships, use of local transfer stations and low-carbon vans makes Gardeners Erith a practical partner for sustainable landscaping. By meeting our recycling percentage target and continuously improving operations, we aim to keep Erith green, productive and resilient for years to come.