DOC Cleaning Visits Recycling & Waste Management Depot

Members of the DOC Cleaning team recently visited First Mile’s depot in London to learn more about their recycling operations, waste management processes and work to reduce emissions across commercial waste collections.

In attendance were Jeff Silver, Head of ESG, Heidi Needham, Business Development Executive, Carlos Rodrigues, Account Manager, and Nik Prinjha, Digital Marketing Executive.

To start the First Mile team presented an overview of what they do, before taking a guided tour of the site.

Sustainability in practice

First Mile is one of our key suppliers and a provider of commercial waste and recycling services across a wide range of waste streams, including general waste, mixed recycling, food waste, cardboard, glass, confidential waste, WEEE recycling and batteries. First Mile focuses on helping businesses improve recycling performance, reduce waste sent to landfill and gain clearer visibility over where waste goes after collection.

The organisation is a Certified B Corporation, meeting commitments to high standards of social and environmental performance, accountability and transparency. B Corp Certification assesses the impact across a range of areas and is a useful indicator of how sustainability is embedded across the business.

First Mile’s 2024 Impact Report states that their focus on “Planet and People” has helped drive higher recycling rates, lower carbon emissions across their operations and further innovation in circular solutions. Their purpose is framed around helping businesses maximise their environmental impact while saving time and money through better waste and recycling solutions.

They also operates a zero-to-landfill policy, meaning materials that cannot be recycled are diverted into energy recovery rather than being sent to landfill. Creating a responsible approach to waste management helping businesses reduce their environmental impact.

First Mile presentation

During the presentation, the team heard more about how First Mile works with clients to track waste data, monitor recycling rates and identify opportunities to improve collection schedules. Their innovative approach helps businesses understand their waste output clearly alognside efficient collections and reducing unnecessary vehicle journeys.

Site tour

The site tour gave the DOC team a closer look at the processes behind commercial recycling. Including seeing how waste is sorted into different chutes and separated into categories. Food waste and non-recyclable materials go along the main conveyor belt to be incinerated. Once recyclable waste is categorised it is sent to a second site for processing.

The team were then shown the electrical waste area. This is where electrical components are separated and, where possible, refurbished or reused. Displaying how better handling of electrical waste can help reduce unnecessary disposal and support more circular outcomes.

Another key area of interest was First Mile’s approach to lower-emission collections. The use of ultra-low and zero-emission vehicles, including electric vans and cargo bikes, with bike collections help support smaller sites where fewer bins may be in use.

The visit gave a valuable opportunity to see how waste is managed beyond the point of collection and the operational detail behind the scenes.

A big thank you to the First Mile team for hosting us and sharing their knowledge throughout the visit.

Contact us

If you would like to learn more about DOC Cleaning’s approach to sustainable cleaning, waste management support and responsible service delivery, please get in touch with our team.

14th July 2026