What Are Clearabee Doing for Earth Day? | Clearabee

2020 marks the celebration of Earth Day’s 50th Anniversary: a global event which set out to mobilise the world’s largest environmental movement, in order to drive transformative change for both the people and the planet. However, in these times of restricted movement, this landmark year will see them take over the ‘digital landscape’ instead.

The inaugural event in 1970 was organised to protest against the growing amount of pollution, due to the increasing amount of vehicles driven by leaded gas. Founded by a US Senator, a Congressmen and a civil rights activist, the first Earth Day saw 20 million Americans take to the streets in support of the cause.

The hugely influential event saw repercussions the world over, resulting in the formation of the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the passing of the National Environmental Education Act, the Occupational Safety and Health Act and the Clean Air Act. And their work continues to increase in impact, year upon year.

2,688,209,868 ‘acts of green’ later (which include community clean-ups and Foodprints for the Future), this year’s Earth Day sees a shift in the usual approach where Earth Day’s online presence will enable global conversations, calls to live action, performances and video lectures.

You can head to Earth Day Live 2020 on April 22 if you want to see the ways in which you can get involved. But what about us? What are Clearabee doing?

Clearabee on Earth Day

Similarly to the Earth Day Network themselves, Clearabee thinks of every day as Earth Day and we make every day as green as possible. Since our beginnings in 2013, Clearabee has strived to not only be an environmentally friendly company, but to be an environmentally proactive company.

Our waste removal services proudly operate with an average diversion rate of at least 95%. This means that wherever possible, We make full use of the 600 recycling stations across the UK to make sure waste is recycled locally. Each collection is analysed individually to determine which will return the best recycle rates, from anaerobic digestion for food waste, materials recovery for bulky items or a composting centre for green waste.

In addition, Clearabee has field staff operating from over 100 locations all around the United Kingdom, including Leeds, Bristol and London. This means that journeys can be kept to a minimum, with an average of less than 15 miles between jobs. This, of course, dramatically reduces the driving involved and the environmental impact.

And that’s not even the best bit.

The Clearabee Forests

Clearabee has planted two forests since 2018. Our first woodland carbon project is situated in Nether Kidston: a 10 acre site on a non-intervention native woodland with over 19,674 native broadleaved trees.

This reforestation project is expected to offset over 2,200 tonnes of carbon, provide benefits to local biodiversity and habitat, whilst improving the flood mitigation profile of the downstream areas.

Sitting between the West Coast Mainline and the River Leith, Clearabee’s second forest consists of 12,610 trees sprawled over 6.36 hectares. This area is mainly mixed woodland and is the result of transforming arable land into sustainable forestry, boasting not only significant water quality but also flood mitigation benefits.

Situated in The Croft of Penrith, Cumbria, our second forest is expected to produce 2,535 tonnes of CO2. Clearabee is committed to planting thousands of trees each year, whilst continuing to substantially offset more carbon than our operations produce.

Clearabee’s Green (and purple) fleet

Not only are we proactively offsetting our carbon usage, but we are also continually striving to reduce the size of our carbon footprint in the first instance. Our Birmingham head office is not only punctuated with plant life, but also operates only on renewable energy.

Our bespoke aluminium chassis vehicles produce less CO2 emissions due to their reduced weight. The British-made HDX chassis is the lightest available on the market and as all our vehicles are EURO 6 compliant, they reduce harmful pollutants from vehicle exhausts, especially nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons and particulate matter. Plus, they look pretty cool too.

Our collection routes are further optimised through our bespoke AI-powered routing system, whilst our drivers are assisted via real-time driver behaviour monitoring. This encourages them to drive as safely and as environmentally friendly as possible.

In addition to the above, we are always looking for ways to make our waste removal, skip hire and Skip Bag services as eco-friendly as possible. So, although it feels like cheating a little, this is what Clearabee are doing for Earth Day this year and every year. Happy Earth Day, everybody.