SUEZ recycling and recovery UK marks World Biodiversity Day with call for business to support nature

Supporting nature and biodiversity is one of the central tenets of SUEZ’s strategic plan which works to a triple bottom line of People, Planet and Profit and aims to preserve natural resources by ensuring reuse, repair or recycling of as much of the 11 million tonnes of waste it manages annually as possible.

But each of the 350 sites where SUEZ operates also has its own plan to not only reduce its impact on nature but to actively promote biodiversity through a wide range of measures.

In 2024 alone SUEZ has:

• Restored over 10 hectares of land which had previously been used as landfill.

• Completed feasibility studies into how to improve biodiversity across 50% of the SUEZ landfill portfolio.

• Planted 1,100 trees and 2,695 metres of hedgerows, alongside the creation of ponds and other wildlife habitats.

• Undertaken a baseline screening of chemical weed control usage, supporting the Group's commitment to cease the use of phytosanitary products in all green spaces by 2027. More than 234 locations have already identified suitable alternatives.

• Through the efforts of 250 site-based sustainability champions across the entire SUEZ estate, over 745 individual actions were taken to improve biodiversity, including the installation of bat boxes, bee hives, bird boxes, and bug hotels, as well as planting wildflowers. Colleagues were also encouraged to use iNaturalist to identify and understand species across SUEZ sites, informing further protective and enhancement actions.

• Fostered community partnerships with The Wildlife Trust and the Industry Nature Conservation Association, along with supporting community litter picks.

John Scanlon, SUEZ recycling and recovery CEO said: "Our purpose is to build a sustainable future that doesn’t cost the earth and the need to put biodiversity and the protection of natural resources at the centre of every business model has never been more important. “It’s worrying that World Biodiversity Day this year comes just two days after the UK’s ‘Overshoot Day’ – the day when countries start to consume more than they can sustainably replace. This year we hit that point on 20 May – last year we didn’t reach it until 3 June. So it is crucial that this becomes a focus for every business in the UK.”

Globally, as well as in the UK, SUEZ has made concrete commitments within its 2023–2027 sustainable development roadmap to reduce its own ecological footprint and accelerate solutions that support biodiversity regeneration. These actions directly address the five primary factors responsible for biodiversity loss: land artificialisation, overexploitation of natural resources, climate change, water pollution, and invasive alien species.

You can check on the progress we’re making here.