J & B Secures Contract For Teesside Recycling Banks

6 July 2011

Award-winning firm secures contract to collect household waste from all recycling banks across Teesside. J & B Recycling will collect and manage waste from 76 "bring" banks in Hartlepool, Stockton, Darlington, Middlesbrough and Redcar and Cleveland

J & B Recycling Managing Director Vikki Jackson-Smith, at one of the new recycling sites in Hartlepool

The contract is worth approximately £1.5m a year to the Hartlepool company and comes just weeks after it was named the town's Business of the Year.

Managing Director Vikki Jackson-Smith said: "We are delighted to have been awarded the contract to manage the recycling banks across all five Teesside local authorities. It is the first time there have been standardised sites across the region.

"This will mean a far more efficient service with brand new colour-coded containers and clearer, user-friendly branding to explain what can be recycled and where it goes. Because there's less containers, there's likely to be far less congestion at the sites as we have increased the frequency of collections."

J & B, which won both the Overall and the Environmental categories at this year's Hartlepool Business Awards, recycles approximately 100,000 tonnes of waste each year from household, commercial, industrial and construction sources.

Improving Participation

More than 340 new containers have been delivered to existing sites to collect glass, paper, cardboard cans, plastics and textiles. The containers have been specifically designed to improve the appearance and cleanliness of the site, reduce congestion and ensure materials are collected effectively.

Mrs Jackson-Smith added: "We expect the new containers will increase participation from the public because it's very clear as to what goes where. For example, all glass can go into one container now whereas it had to be sorted into different colours previously.

"The idea has been to provide the same service wherever you are in Teesside. That brings economies of scale for ourselves and the local authorities because it means we are collecting far more efficiently."

The new sites have been praised by recycling managers at the Teesside local authorities.

Phillippa Scrafton, waste minimisation and recycling officer at Darlington Borough Council, said: "The completed sites look excellent and initial feedback from the public is very positive. Our thanks and admiration go to J & B Recycling staff for their excellent work."

Visit www.jbrecycling.co.uk for more information

Darrel Moore