Our founder and CEO Bruce Bratley met with City AM recently to discuss how First Mile are helping the UK take action over our plastic addiction. The interview, entitled, “a man on a mission to tackle the UK’s plastic addiction” was inspired by the distressing scenes the world tuned in to on Blue Planet last year.
First Mile are enabling people to take action, by making it easier than ever for businesses to recycle everything. We now collect more than 50,000 tonnes of material each year and recycle 65% of it. Comparing First Mile’s recycling rate to London as a whole who only recycle 32% (and in the case of councils such as Westminster, it’s as low as 18%), for our 22,000 customers its reassuring that by playing their part in their business, together we are saving the planet.
Bruce continues with his view that “there are more effective ways of tackling the plastic problem”. For example, as manufacturers we need to start only using two or three polymers in our products, making it easier for waste companies to separate and recycle them. By reducing opaque plastics (such as a black plastic tray) we’ll also increase recycling rates, as currently optical sorters are unable to detect these black trays. With the advancement of artificial intelligence and mutant plastic eating enzyme, it’s an exciting time for the recycling industry if we all start to work together to tackle the problem.
By using First Mile for your business recycling, we can help you improve your recycling rate, whilst doing your bit to tackle the UK plastic problem with a simple and cost-effective and simple waste management solution.
