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Sustainability at Brown Recycling

Building a sustainable business and supporting our customers on their sustainability journey have been key strategies for Brown Recycling for over 20 years.

We have invested in our processing plants, our processes and our equipment with the aim of reducing our environmental impact, expanding our energy recovery from waste, diverting the maximum possible amount of waste we process from landfill and developing partnerships that support our drive to recycle and reuse waste into new production streams.

Through continual investment in our infrastructure and our business-wide focus on recycle, recover and reuse, we provide our customers with sustainable waste management and are building an ever- growing and effective circular economy across all our waste streams. This even allows us to provide our services nationally for clients with sites across the country.

Through our zero waste to landfill target we help customers improve their sustainability performance and credentials, as well as positively impacting the communities in which they operate. We are proud to be a business with a strong sustainability and environmental focus. Despite the positive progress we have made, we continue to set ourselves challenging goals for the future to benefit our people, our customers, our communities and our business too.

Carbon Footprint Report 2024-2025

49,000+ Tonnes in CO2 reductions

60% of all waste converted to energy

9,000+ Tonnes of scrap metal recycled

1,800+ Tonnes of plastic recycled

16,000+ Tonnes of cardboard recycled

Source: Brown Recycling Limited 2025.

Sustainable Waste Processing Sustainability is central to our business. We are proud of our progress in delivering our sustainability and environmental goals over recent years and of the benefits these have brought to our operation, to the environment and to our customers.

Our Facilities

Our central waste management facility at Vanguard House, built in 2011, was at the forefront of eco development. We have on-site rainwater harvesting tanks that feed our vehicle wash and toilets and bricks recycled from our processing were used for structural gabion basket walls. Our office building has argon filled glazing to reduce heat loss and is clad in sustainability sourced timber to further enhance insulation. And all our buildings and processing plants are fitted with LED lighting.

Vanguard House was also home to the first purpose built SRF (Solid Recovered Fuel) facility in Europe, a major development for the waste management industry in the UK.

Our Fleet

Our waste collection and transport fleet renewal programme is aligned with the latest low emission engine technology.

In 2023 we updated our fleet with £1.1 million of new vehicles. 95% of our fleet of 45 vehicles are already Euro 6 standard compliant for emissions with the target of achieving 100%. In support of this target, a further £1.3 million has been invested in new Euro 6 vehicles which are due for delivery in April 2024 .

We are also actively investigating the viability of adding all electric vehicles into our fleet for trade waste collections.

Our Plant

100% of our mobile plant machinery is Tier 4+ emissions standard. And in 2023 we invested in a Solmec battery powered mobile 360 waste handling machine, only the 2 nd in the UK, to replace a diesel powered equivalent. A second machine was purchased in July 2023.

Our latest waste shredder processes an extra 30% of waste throughput for the same energy output of the previous machine. In context this equates to an extra 3000+ tonnes of waste converted into RDF (Refuse Derived Fuel) per annum for no added electricity use and 1800 megawatt hours of electrical energy generated at the EfW (Energy from Waste) facility we supply.

EcoVadis Bronze Recognition Sustainability posts This independent assessment rigorously evaluated our sustainability performance across both our operations and in the value we deliver to our customers, our suppliers and our team….

Fleet Replenishment Sustainability posts These investments are a part of our ongoing fleet renewal system, which ensures all vehicles are replaced with upgraded and more environmentally friendly versions every five years….

IVECO - Plant a Tree initiative - Brown Recycling

IVECO – Plant a Tree initiative Sustainability posts IVECO has teamed up with the Future Forest Company to participate in the ‘Plant a Tree’ initiative, whereby for every IVECO vehicle sold, a new tree sapling is planted somewhere in…

SOLMEC Machines Sustainability posts One of the key features of the Solmec 5020ZE machines is their battery-operated design. These machines, equipped with twin batteries operating in parallel, offer a cleaner and more…

XR to ZR Shredder Sustainability posts With the ZR24000, we have recorded a 30% increase in throughput, enabling us to handle larger volumes of waste with efficiency. The power-saving UNTHA Eco Power Drive contributes s…

Our Sustainability Performance

From August 2011 to end of 2024:

315,000+ tonnes of waste were diverted from landfill and converted into SRF / RDF, which has been used to generate heat and electrical power in the UK.
More than 200,000 tonnes of waste have been recycled and re-used.
Over 516,000 tonnes of waste, generated primarily in Staffordshire and South Cheshire has been treated by Brown Recycling, saved from being sent to landfill, recycled wherever possible or used as EfW feedstock – all contributing to the circular economy in the region.
We are consistently delivering our zero waste to landfill target, a testament to the hard work of the whole Brown Recycling team.

And we are thrilled that Brown Recycling has been awarded the Bronze EcoVadis Medal, placing us in the top 35% of companies they assessed globally for sustainability in 2024. This recognition reflects our commitment to continuous improvement in sustainability across all areas of our business, ensuring a positive impact for our operations, our customers and the communities we serve.

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