South Gloucestershire Council and West Sussex County Council: Greenprint

Greenprint – a net carbon-negative systems model for green infrastructure management.

Theme: 

A green carbon laboratory

Local authorities:

South Gloucestershire Council and West Sussex County Council

Overview:

South Gloucestershire Council and West Sussex County Council are working in partnership, trialling a new way to manage grass verges, including using cuttings to generate energy and reduce the carbon footprint associated with highways maintenance.

Project description:

Greenprint is a carbon-negative systems model for green infrastructure management. It aims to reduce operational emissions and revolutionise the narrative for biomass drawn from councils' estates from ‘waste’ to ‘value’.

The partnership will pioneer replicable, circular economy approaches for collecting verge biomass that will reduce the costs and emissions associated with ongoing management, whilst increasing biodiversity. Collected biomass will be processed to generate new sources of clean heat and power, alternative fuels and asphalt additives that will further reduce the cost and emissions from highways operations.

This ‘Greenprint’ will demonstrate a sustainable and replicable model for local authorities, transforming the role and value of the highways green asset, and enable highways, waste and other service functions to work together in synergy to deliver financial, environmental and social value benefits while reducing carbon emissions.

Project value:

£4m.