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Wildlife in the Waste Industry: A GENeco case study

Waste and wildlife in the same sentence usually conjures thoughts of sea turtles choking on plastic bags and other distressing scenes, but sustainable waste solutions company GENeco are showing how the industry can contribute to the advancement of wildlife at their recycling and renewable energy facility in Avonmouth.

GENeco mainly spend their days converting 700,000 tonnes/ year of organic waste, primarily food waste and sewage, into green energy, biofertilizers and low emission vehicle fuels that benefit people and planet. Their operations are sustainability focused, zero-waste-to-landfill and carbon neutral.

Jenny Harrison, Waste and Resources Advisor at GENeco said, “We take pride in our innovative ideas such as the Bio-Bee's which are the UK’s first refuse collection vehicles to be powered by the food waste they collect.”

The Bio-Bees were so named as, like ordinary bee’s, they do good work for the environment by collecting valuable natural resources every day and bringing them back to a central hive to be turned into useful products.

“We’ve done lots of work engaging with environmental goals in terms of reducing carbon emissions, producing renewable energy and recycling but there was a growing sense within the team that we could do more to help our local area and the pollinators which the Bio-Bee's were named for.”

Flower and bee at GENeco

In 2020 Bristol declared an ecological emergency in response to the rapid and significant decline in wildlife in Bristol and around the world. Particularly distressing are the statistics on the drop of insect and pollinator levels and songbirds. GENeco are primarily taking steps to engage with two of the main goals of the ecology strategy:

  • Reduce consumption of products that undermine the health of wildlife and ecosystems around the world
  • Manage 30% of land in Bristol for the benefit of Wildlife

GENeco engage with the first as the end products of their innovative treatment process (biofertiliser, CLO Soil Conditioning product and green waste compost) displace inorganic fertilizers and those generated from peatbogs which contribute to greenhouse gas emissions and habitat destruction.

Their engagement with the second started with a team member’s passion to re-utilise an area on site that was underutilised as an amazing space for people and wildlife. A pond was added, that was followed by picnic tables and walkways that were planted with pollinator friendly species like buddleia, marigolds and fruit trees. Once the area was complete it was opened to staff to use as a health and wellbeing area to get away from their desks for a few moments.

Ducks at GENeco pond

“You’d never know it was here,” is the phrase that always get used by visitors to describe the feeling of being a million miles away from the active sewage treatment works just over the hedgerow. The new ducklings, herons, bats, and butterflies among many others making their homes in the space have been captured in photography competitions amongst the team.

GENeco then reclaimed an unused field and planted a meadow using a UK native, pollinator friendly wildflower seed mix which soon exploded into life with flowers and insects that were tracked in FIT Count surveys.

“We estimate that over 20% of our land is now green and available for wildlife. In the past months we’ve been making a real effort to improve the space we have and grow it. It’s given us a new perspective and helped reframe in our minds areas that could have been seen as unsightly when they’re doing important work. For example, where possible we’ve taken part in #NoMowMay to encourage greater diversity and nectar source for pollinators and extended this to a year-round mowing ban on the far side of the wildlife pond which soon became a haven for damselflies and other insects.”

Wildflower meadow at GENeco

Learning more about rewilding programs such as the Knepp Experiment, a pioneering project in West Sussex, encouraged GENeco to leave areas around the wind turbines as unmanaged as possible, encouraging nature to do what it does best over aesthetically managing the land that would result in a lower biodiversity of plant and animal species. The scrubland habitat thrived with thickets and bushes acting as shelter for birds and other small creatures.

“The win-win, low maintenance approached completely worked for us and it made the moments where we did spend time working on it extra special. We spent an amazing sunny afternoon roaming site for materials to upcycle and make into insect hotels. It was a great way to relax and build something creative and build relationships with the team and we didn’t have to buy anything new.”

The hardest part has been continually judging where to split the time and funds available, not wanting to pull away resources from day-to-day activities but also wanting to realise the potential of the area. We have a unique challenge in that wildflowers often grow best in poor nutrient soils and we’re using our own, rich compost so plants grow thicker and faster than we’d like and requires a little extra management then would be considered usual for a meadow. However, if we don’t have the time to manage it as much as we’d like, it’s still doing great work for nature and the fact that it changes so quickly with the seasons and weather means there’s always something new to see when you come down.

“There’s a lot of wildlife out there ready to appreciate the space if you can maximise what you’ve already got. All it takes is passion and the support to make it happen.”

If your business wants to help local wildlife, invest in the local community and contribute to a healthier environment, visit the Corporate Support section of our website to find out how we can work together for the benefit of nature.

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