Preparations fit for a King!

KEEPING LONDON'S streets clean and litter free is a major task occupying large teams of operatives on a 24 hour year round schedule, but a global event like the coronation brings new challenges for the cleaning teams. Added to the routine street cleaning and waste collections are the pressures of time, extra security, and dealing with the waste left by over two million extra people visiting Westminster for the event.

So how is the clean-up operation for this type of event managed effectively and sustainably? The team at Veolia explain the approach to this complex operation and how sustainability can be maximised to protect the environment.

Sustainable street services

As a key service provider, Veolia works with 13 London boroughs to deliver street cleansing, waste collection and treatment services whilst also trying to maximise sustainability, preserve resources, lower carbon emissions and environmental impact. Veolia also manages around 50 large scale crowd attracting events in London every year including the Pride march, Notting Hill Carnival, the Lord Mayor's parade, and the London marathon. So supporting local authorities to deliver special events in the most ecological way possible is a natural part of Veolia's DNA. But preparing for the Queen’s Jubilee, the Queen’s funeral and most recently, the first Coronation in 70 years within the same year was a challenge on another scale. 

Making this type of cleaning operation successful involves the input of multiple organisations from local authorities to the police, and preparations start months in advance. As Helder Branco, Veolia Westminster General Manager explains, “Working from the Coronation planning team brief, the aim was to deliver the event in the most low impact and sustainable way possible, whilst ensuring the strict security and timeline requirements were met. These included a road closure area restricting the movement of vehicles and requiring all 30 vehicles and 100 staff operating within the closed zone to be security registered and checked.” 

Extra street cleaning preparations started from 11 April, when additional deep cleansing and a further eight sweeping teams focused on all major roads and pavements across the event area to ensure the route of the procession and surrounding roads were up to standard. Although the street cleaning targets a Grade A industry standard, these teams carried out further work to ensure that the coronation clean-up project would only have to deal with the rubbish from the event itself to minimise the time taken and allow for the restrictions on the day.

Veolia also supported two dress rehearsals on 17 April and 2 May which started from 11pm and ran into the early hours. Spectators who were camped out in their spots from two days prior to the coronation would have witnessed the second rehearsal to guarantee a smooth operation on coronation day.  By using the lessons learned through the dress rehearsals, and experience from other recent events, the teams were able to identify the potential challenges and were fully prepared to deal with unexpected situations, including having extra sand ready to deploy in case of rain, which was needed on the day. Extensive team briefings supported this process so that each member of the team knew exactly what they would be doing on the day.

The Coronation

At 2am on 6 May 100 Veolia operatives and 30 vehicles gathered ready to begin. The group split into eight teams each covering a distinct area of central Westminster, and put into practice all the preparations and rehearsals. Unusually for spring the operation included the roll-out of gritter lorries, not for dealing with potential icy roads, but to carefully lay down 50 tonnes of sand to cover the corners of the route. In addition crews manually sanded all metal grates along the route. This was important to protect the horses from slipping and to aid the King’s carriage wheels, and other horse drawn vehicles around corners. Working to a strict time schedule the team finished this vital labour at around 8am, before retreating to the depots for their first break, leaving teams in two locations just off the main procession route. The procession route was then fully closed off for a final security sweep ready for the main event.

During the event as the King was being crowned, operatives from these two teams refreshed the procession route through removal of horse manure and extra pedestrian litter and waste. This was done to ensure the streets remained as clean as possible, and that London was shown at its best to the 277 million global television viewers who watched around the world. The final phase of the operation began as soon as the procession returned to Buckingham Palace when all the teams returned to remove all the sand and litter, to make sure the streets were ready for re-opening at 6pm. 

In total the teams removed an additional 39 tonnes of waste (excluding the sand) from the area, as well as the average weekend total of 650 tonnes of recycling and rubbish. This was all done despite multiple road closures and much more restricted collection times. The sand itself was collected and returned to the storage area at Veolia’s North London depot, ready for use during the winter season.

While this was the more visible side of the operation for the coronation, many more teams and specialist facilities were used to meet the aim of making the event sustainable, to both lower carbon emissions and potential environmental impact. 

Recyclable and non-recyclable waste

All of the recycling collected was taken to the Southwark recycling facility, one of the largest of its type in Europe, to be sorted and separated for further treatment. Plastic, paper, card and metals were recovered and sent to other facilities to be transformed into new items - a process that not only preserves resources but also typically saves 70-80% of the carbon emissions associated with using virgin resources.

Non-recyclable items and general refuse was taken to SELCHP energy recovery facility where it is used to generate electricity for the grid and provide a green heat supply for thousands of London homes and businesses. Veolia believes in a circular economy strategy, which is why materials that would otherwise go to landfill are turned into a source of renewable energy. 

Further carbon reductions were achieved by the vehicle fleet used on the day, as the majority of the 30 vehicles deployed, including refuse collection vehicles, small mechanical sweepers, flushers, small cages, and EAV bikes, were electric zero emission types. Almost two years ago, Veolia and WCC worked together to switch the West End fleet to electric vehicles that saves on carbon emissions by 89%, reduces noise and delivers a 100% NOx reduction. 

The operation in partnership with Westminster City Council was wide-ranging and rapid. With an extensive history of handling large scale events this was not new territory, but for the frontline teams it was unique to be able to support The King, The Queen and Westminster City during this special day. Summing up the event was Jason Small, one of the operatives who worked the coronation, “It's great to be able to help out at historic events like this and just be able to say I was part of it in a small way, I really looked forward to it.”

Operatives like Jason, who worked around the clock to ensure that everything was fit for the coronation and afterwards to return things back to normal were vital to the success of the operation. As an example each member of staff on foot (60 people) walked an estimated 25 miles, collectively that’s a total of 300,000 steps taken, covering about 1,500 miles - Equivalent to walking from Land’s End to John O’Groats and almost all the way back again.

Helder also praised the immense effort from his team by saying, “I am immensely proud of my team’s unwavering passion and commitment to making sure we delivered an outstanding service during this momentous occasion. We have worked hard to make this event as sustainable as possible, separating out recycling from litter collected, and with more than half of the vehicles used within the area electric or hybrid. The scale and speed at which we make the streets clean and safe to be re-opened is sometimes difficult to imagine, but that is our expertise. The applause from the crowds was very rewarding for my team, and I would like to thank the public for their support.”

A more circular economy reduces waste, drives greater resource productivity and helps reduce the environmental impacts of production and consumption in both the UK and abroad. Using this strategy helps drive for a more sustainable future, and is a fundamental part of Veolia’s strategy to deliver Ecological Transformation for people and planet.

Janna Radwan is education, communication and outreach lead at Veolia Westminster.

For more information visit www.veolia.co.uk