Ken Livingstone gives London businesses sustainable makeover

Ken Livingstone will have to go a long way to apologise to the world for his part in a series of adverts promoting cheese back in the heady brace and leg warmer wearing 1980s. Back then, he was pushing red leicester, trading on his Red Ken nickname. Now he’s more like Green Ken, with a truckload of eco-biz announcements exiting City Hall this week.

First off, the Mayor will be holding a meeting on zero carbon developments for London, off the back of the first such development called Gallions Park, and whether London can house a few more.

Then there’s more plans for cycle hire to take a little more off London’s carbon emissions and an extra £25 a day fee for Chelsea tractors coming into the capital.

And the proverbial cherry on the cake: a draft plan to get London’s businesses recycling 70 percent of its waste by 2020.

This strategy sets out measures so that London’s businesses can take responsibility for the waste they produce and take action to use resources productively and, with London’s waste industry, maximise the social, environmental and economic opportunities of reprocessing and managing waste within London.

The Mayor’s vision for how London manages its business waste in 2020 is that:
— there is a high level of recycling and composting, more waste is reused and less waste is produced
— advanced waste technologies are used for treating non-recyclable waste, particularly technologies that produce energy
— London’s waste is primarily managed in London, reducing the impact on surrounding regions
— high quality advice, support and recycling services are offered to all businesses consistently across London
— the contribution of London’s waste to climate change is minimised.