Veolia's partnership with Goodwood
We're working with Goodwood to bolster biodiversity by turning end-of-life tree guards into bird boxes, proving that even the most unexpected of materials can find a new purpose.
State of Nature in the UK
The UK is one of the world’s most nature-depleted countries with nearly one in six species at risk of extinction.
To halt this decline, England has set a world-leading, legally binding target for 2030 and the Environmental Improvement Plan will tackle some of the biggest pressures on our environment, such as intensive farming practices and the continuing effects of climate change.
By looking towards nature itself, we can find many of the answers we need to reach this target. Take our native trees and woodlands as an example: they both capture and lock away carbon in the tree biomass and in the surrounding soil, whilst delivering significant benefits for biodiversity with rich habitats and resilient environments capable of withstanding extreme weather events, thereby delivering co-benefits for nature and climate.
The Roots of Change at Goodwood
The Goodwood Estate spans 11,000 acres and sits within the South Downs National Park: the UK’s most recent National Park and home to a number of rare species, including the Adonis blue butterfly that thrives in chalk grassland.
They therefore have a great responsibility to protect, maintain and enhance their surrounding environments and sustainable stewardship is at the heart of Goodwood’s very nature. Home to one of the largest lowland organic farms in England, they also use the 3,500 tonnes of straw from the world-renowned Festival of Speed and 3,500 tonnes of woodchip from their Forestry team to fuel a 3.5mw biomass waste-to-energy facility that supplies hot water and electricity to the estate.
An on-site Forestry Team looks at things in the long-term too with 100-year cycle plans - the timescale for a plantation to grow from a seed to the final crop of mature trees. Since December 2018, Goodwood has been working on an ambitious woodland creation project to include the planting of an incredible 150,000 trees, an extra 600m of hedgerow and the rewilding of several areas across their estate, all to support the unique flora and fauna of the surrounding South Downs.
A Decade Together
Over the past decade, we’ve been working in partnership with Goodwood, transforming how we think about waste at major events. Our in-house Innovation Team plays a key role in this and where most might see waste, they see opportunity.
As part of Goodwood’s ever-growing woodland creation project, 78,000 trees planted in 2019 and each sapling was initially protected by a tree-guard, which protects them from browsing animals such as deer and rabbits, providing them with the best possible start in life.
These plastic guards can’t go in the usual recycling bin with the rest of our plastic bottles and pots, but if collected separately, they can be put to good use. So when the young trees had grown strong enough, a team of Veolia volunteers set out with the Goodwood Forestry Team to safely remove them.
Once collected, they were shredded, heated and shaped into moulds and with a shared commitment to boosting the estate’s biodiversity efforts, we turned them into 30 bird boxes, transforming plastic waste into a valuable resource for nature.
Check out the video to see the team in action.
When Tree Guards Become Bird Havens
South Downs is home to a rich diversity of birds, and the recycled boxes can now provide essential nesting opportunities across the estate.
This joint initiative shows how innovations in resource regeneration can be directed into environmental benefits and contribute to a circular economy where nothing needs to go to waste.
“After ten years together, Veolia and Goodwood continue to demonstrate that meaningful environmental change comes through partnership, creativity and an unwavering commitment to doing better. This project also shows that with a little innovation, we can solve the challenges posed by plastic recycling and at Veolia, we’re always looking for new ways to bolster the UK’s domestic recycling market and support the circular economy.”
Simon Futcher, Commercial Business Development Director at Veolia UK
”This has been a great collaborative project from start to finish. We put the challenge to Veolia of what to do with our redundant tree guards, and Veolia came up with the innovative idea of recycling to create bird boxes. Not only is this treating our waste but also providing a nature-based solution to enhance wildlife within our own Estate. The team did a fantastic job on the day, and we are very pleased with the end product - we just hope the birds are too!"
Stephanie Keay, Head of Sustainability at Goodwood
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