The new forest will be planted in Goodmayes Park (Image: BETHAN MCCONNELL)
A new forest is being planted in East London with around 15,0000 new trees thanks to a fine paid by a computing firm in West London.
The vast new woodland is being planted in Goodmayes Park, near Ilford after EMC, a computing solutions company later bought in a record acquisition by Dell, was forced to pay a fine for not registering its waste packaging.
More than 500 residents of the Redbridge area volunteered to help plant the trees, currently saplings.
The project was coordinated by Trees for Cities, a charity which has already planted well over a million trees in the UK and abroad.
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Rory Field, corporate partnerships director for Trees for Cities, said: "This money contributed to the creation of a new woodland at Goodmayes Park in Redbridge, where more than 500 members of the local community came out to help plant the trees.
"Trees bring an amazing benefit to the environment and communities. They catch CO2 emissions, absorb air pollution, and provide a safe haven to thousands of species and sub-species, improving biodiversity and the eco-system.
"Trees cool the air, mitigating climate change, and help prevent flash flooding and make people around them fitter, healthier and happier. Urban tree-planting is a great way to benefit the environment and the community.”
EMC Computer systems were bought by Dell computers in late 2015 in a deal rumoured to be worth around $67 billion, the largest deal in tech history.
Headquartered in America with an office in Great West Road, Brentford, the company offers data storage, cloud computing and other IT solutions for businesses.
Between 2003 and 2003 and from 2008 to 2015, the company failed to register the packaging waste it produced in breach of environmental laws.
Companies with a turnover above £2 million, handling more than 50 tonnes of packaging in the previous calendar year, must register with an accredited compliance scheme, and recover and recycle their packaging waste.
Rather than take them to court, the Environment Agency was able to issue them with a civil sanction requiring them to improve their practices and make a financial contribution to a relevant project.
The £8,759.31 fine paid by EMC paid in part of the planting of the new forest in Goodmayes.
Nikki Collins, a senior waste operations officer for the Environment Agency, said: "Enforcement undertakings ensure that those who commit offences stop offending, come into compliance and take steps to prevent a recurrence.
"Offenders should be prepared to take responsibility for their actions and put things right, resulting in a direct benefit to the environment and local communities.”
This article is from MyLondon news: https://www.mylondon.news/news/east-london-news/new-forest-15000-trees-being-18689389?utm_source=mylondon_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=MyeastLondon3&utm_campaign=myeastlondon_newsletter
My comment:
This new forest will be a big help to climate change. It's litter bans are a great idea as well as this can help lots of animals live.
There are laws about this and if you catch yourself littering, make sure that you pick it up. If you see litter on the floor, put it in the bin.
Enjoy the article!
Kieran Curtis, admin.
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