Grundon renews ties with Gloucestershire County Cricket Club as recycling rates rocket

Published by

Peter Davison

Daniel Peacey and Neil Priscott

Bristol waste management experts Grundon have renewed ties with Gloucestershire County Cricket Club after three years of steady improvement in the club’s recycling performance.

Recycling rates at the Seat Unique Stadium in Bristol have risen by almost 60 per cent in the past two years alone, up from 28 per cent in 2021 to 43.8 per cent in 2023.

This year so far the club has recycled more than 30 tonnes of waste, from glass and mixed recyclables to food and green waste.

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The improved rates are down to better provision for spectators on matchdays – more bins on site, in more locations, with clearer instructions on usage.

Now the club has awarded Grundon a further three year contract to help bring additional improvements to its sustainability operation.

Next season fans will see improved signage, new external bins in different locations, among other measures, to help minimise rubbish being sent to energy from waste facilities.

Daniel Peacey, regional sales manager for Grundon in Bristol, said: “For a venue which is so heavily reliant on public engagement, anything above 40 per cent of recycling is a really good figure. We’re proud of exceeding that target in our work with Gloucestershire CCC so far and we’re looking forward to helping them achieve even better results over the next three years.

Since being involved we have introduced internal recycling containers, as well as facilitating more segregation of waste on site and around the ground, on match days and day-to-day.

“Clearly it’s impossible to police what food and drink people bring into the ground, or how it is packaged and disposed of. However we know from our widespread work with sporting events, festivals and the like that education and communication is a key element of good recycling performance.

“We have recently introduced our dedicated Sustainability Engagement Manager to the club, and together she and I will be working with the club to look at further improvements next year.

“We are delighted that Gloucestershire CCC have placed their faith in us to continue the good work we have started, and we are looking forward to continuing our relationship.”

Grundon has been established in Bristol since 2020, during which time the company has set up several key sustainability initiatives, including launching a £300k electric collection vehicle on to the city’s streets this summer.

Across the south of England it manages waste streams at a catalogue of major events and sporting occasions, including Royal Ascot and the British Grand Prix, as well as music festivals such as Valley Fest held near Chew Magna each year.

Neil Priscott, chief operating officer at Gloucestershire County Cricket Club, said: “It’s fundamental for us to have a reliable waste management partner because it is a relationship which is at the heart of our whole operation.

“On matchdays, we want our customers to have a seamless experience where they can enjoy everything they’re doing – the cricket, the facilities and the food and drink.

“So the challenge is doing that with a capacity crowd and to help us meet those goals we need strong partnerships with good people.

“Grundon have proven over the past three years to over deliver on services – they’re great at what they do and are ideal partners for us.

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“As the first UK cricket club to sign up for a number of environmentally sustainable initiatives, including the UN’s Sports for Climate Action framework and its Race to Zero campaign, we feel we’re reflecting the community in Bristol which is at the heart of the sustainable movement.

“Over the past few years we’ve had incredible feedback from our members and fans about our environmental initiatives, from our community growing space that we run with a local school to the installation of electric charge points. We’ve been able to make so many small adjustments that all help us with our carbon footprint.

“Waste recycling is another important piece in the sustainability jigsaw so we’re pleased to have Grundon on that journey with us.”

Peter Davison

Peter Davison is deputy editor of The Business Magazine. He has spent his life in journalism – doing work experience in newsrooms in and around Bristol while still at school, and landing his first job on a local newspaper aged 19. By 28 he was the youngest newspaper editor in the country. An early advocate of online news, he spent the first years of the 2000s telling his bosses that the internet posed both the biggest opportunity and greatest threat to the newspaper industry and the art of journalism. He was right on both counts. Since 2006 he has enjoyed a career as a freelance journalist. He lives in rural Wiltshire with one wife, two children, and three cats.