Green Special: Wharf's green man making giant leaps

He said: "We're pursuing a 'zero to landfill' policy now, which is a very big thing.

"We've been working on it for some time but we couldn't find the right facility close enough to the estate, because we were looking at our carbon footprint at the same time.

"We're proud that after some time we've finally found the right facility for us."

Waste from buildings managed by the company has been going to an incineration facility in Maidstone for the last three months, at an average of about 1,000 tonnes a month.

CWG is also looking into composting its food waste in Sevenoaks and selling it to farms in the area, a scheme which may well be operational at the beginning of next year.

Michael was at the company's Green Canary Day stand in Jubilee Place on Friday to challenge passers-by to multiple-choice quizzes, as well as to raise awareness of what can be done to make the area even greener.

He said: "We're trying to get visitors and tenants involved and make them aware of how much effort we've been putting in here.

"This is the eighth year of Green Canary Day, and it's much more sophisticated. We started slow but we're very strong now."

Canary Wharf's environmental practices range from waste recycling to construction. It was named in the top 60 green UK companies by The Sunday Times in May, has scooped Green Apple awards for construction, fit-outs and waste management and was handed a platinum award for carbon reduction at the Mayor of London's Green500 and Better Building Partnership awards in June.

It has also expanded its newspaper recycling efforts on the estate.

A third baler has been purchased, which compresses papers into half-tonne bales to be transported for recycling. Visitors to the estate can drop their read papers off at designated locations in the Wharf, and can even pick some up if they wish.

Michael said: "We've found people are heading over to the trucks and picking up their newspaper. That's true recycling."

So what's the next step forward for green innovation on the estate?

Michael talks of looking at anaerobic digestion, a process in which micro-organisms break down biodegradable material without oxygen, reducing emssions from landfill gas.

Michael said: "There are some waste management companies that are planning on opening facilities in 2010. That will be the next step, probably with a facility in London."