GTR recycling scheme aims to boost sustainability
Posted: 29 January 2025 | Elizabeth Jordan - Global Railway Review | No comments yet
A staff uniform recycling scheme at the country’s largest train company has helped save enough energy to drive from Peterborough to Cape Town in a petrol-powered car, preventing 2.4 tonnes of greenhouse emissions from entering the atmosphere. Some 620 sacks of Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) clothing has been recycled in the past year through an […]
A staff uniform recycling scheme at the country’s largest train company has helped save enough energy to drive from Peterborough to Cape Town in a petrol-powered car, preventing 2.4 tonnes of greenhouse emissions from entering the atmosphere.
Some 620 sacks of Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) clothing has been recycled in the past year through an advanced process called material reclamation – giving textiles a second chance instead of going to landfill.
Thameslink, Southern, Great Northern and Gatwick Express branded garments, gear and shoes have all been turned into products such as mattress filling and sound buffering for cars, saving enough energy to charge 194,032 smartphones, or drive 6,112 miles in a petrol-powered car, in turn preventing the emission of 2,400kg of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
GTR’s Head of Environment and Sustainability, Jason Brooker (pictured below), said: “We’re passionate about reducing the environmental impact of what we do, and as part of our long-term commitment to reducing waste we’re thinking about the way we use resources across our business.
“Each of our members of staff that require uniform will be able to return it when it’s no longer needed so that it can be sent for recycling. Not only is this enabling us to think about resources in a more circular way, but also contributes to reductions in our carbon emissions in alignment with our 2050 net zero goals.”
The train company – which operates trains across 11 counties almost the size of Belgium – is one of a very small number of businesses accredited by the corporate climate action organisation Science Based Targets initiative for its climate change goals.
Staff working across the GTR network can use one of 30 recycling points at their nearest major station:
- Ashford
- Barnham
- Bedford
- Blackfriars
- Brighton
- Cricklewood
- Eastbourne
- Enfield Chase
- Finsbury Park
- Gatwick Airport
- Gillingham
- Hitchin
- Hornsey
- Horsham
- Kentish Town
- Kings Lynn
- Letchworth
- London Bridge
- London Victoria
- Luton
- Norwood Junction
- Peckham Rye
- Peterborough
- Purley
- Redhill
- Selhurst
- St Albans
- Sutton
- Three Bridges
- Welwyn Garden City
- Worthing
