This year Veolia’s London Marathon clean up has achieved a recycling win for the capital, seeing the streets in Tower Hamlets and Westminster returned to normal within 6 hours and over 300,000 plastic bottles collected for reprocessing.
The race route passes through a number of London boroughs. In Tower Hamlets and Westminster, where Veolia manages the clear up operation on behalf of the councils, Veolia takes great pride in ensuring a swift and sustainable approach.
Across the two sites, Veolia deployed over 20 vehicles and 100 staff and, based on the results from previous years, expects to have cleared over 300,000 plastic bottles. Recycling the bottles, as opposed to allowing them to enter the general waste stream delivers a clear recycling win for the capital and the wider environment.
Pascal Hauret, Regional Director for Veolia London, commented: “The London Marathon is a fantastic event and our teams sprint into action once the runners have passed to ensure that we capture all of the waste and recycled as much of it as we possibly can. We are delighted to have played our part in this year’s event and congratulate all of the runners on their considerable achievement.”
Westminster City Council Waste and Recycling Manager Jarno Stet said: “Our waste and recycling teams work incredibly hard through the afternoon to make sure the streets are clean and clear as quickly as possible after the marathon. It really is a mammoth effort and part of what makes Westminster such a wonderful place to visit.”
Robin Payne Interim Divisional Director of Public Realm at Tower Hamlets Council said: “We are pleased to be a part of such an exciting event again this year. A team of 81 council cleaning staff will be working hard to make sure the roads are clean and open as again asap once the runners have left.”