Cross River Partnership Report

Smarter Greener Logistics: Express Delivery

Clean Air Logistics for London Snapshot July 2023

October 2024

WS6: Cargo Bikes and Walking Freight

 

City Soil Lab Pre-Pilot 

 

Project Overview

As part of the Smarter Greener Logistics programme, Cross River Partnership (CRP) supported a 6 week pre-pilot of the City Soil Lab, a community-led circular food waste scheme in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Food waste was collected from local restaurants and residences, before being composted at Spitalfields City Farm. CRP supported the trial by providing funding for an electrically-assisted cargo bike for food waste collection from local restaurants, and by helping to quantify the air quality impacts associated with the pre-pilot trial.

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The pre-pilot started in April 2024 and finished in June 2024, servicing 2 restaurants and 3 coffee shops. It forms part of a wider trial to develop the project for further rollout, expanding to service several more restaurants and to include food waste collections from housing estates and local schools.

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City Soil Lab sees food waste as a valuable resource for recycling nutrients to create better soil for locally grown food while also contributing to cleaner air and water. By recycling food waste on a local scale, City Soil Lab works as a flexible, circular system, creating soil for specific crops on underutilised space. This soil can then used for local community gardens in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets.

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Key Outputs

Within 6 weeks, an estimated 2,100kg of food waste has been diverted from incineration as part of the pilot. This translates to roughly 1,470kg of CO2 emissions that have been omitted.

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In Tower Hamlets, food waste accounts for 30% of overall waste and is currently only collected separately from street-level residential properties. By servicing apartment blocks, like housing estates, and collecting commercial food waste by cargo bike, City Soil Lab has the potential to decrease the number of waste collection trucks required in the area, which could lead to significant air quality benefits.

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