A PIONEERING recycler has won another top award for its world leading plastic product.
Wilton-based Greenstar WES created what was thought to be the world’s first 100% recyclable virgin quality plastic pellet.
The breakthrough has won the company a string of high-end contracts in the milk carton market and now most of the UK’s major supermarkets are among the stockists.
The number of cartons containing the material is expected to reach the 100 million milestone next month.
Greenstar WES, part of the Greenstar Group, has won its third top award in a few months - Recycled Packaging of the Year at the 2009 National Recycling Awards (NRAs).
But the widespread recognition has not come as a great surprise to MD James Donaldson.
“When your product is the first in the world, it attracts a lot of attention,” he said. “It’s nice to be recognised, we are a heavy industry manufacturing company doing something beneficial.
“We’re keeping jobs in the UK and soon our material will be in every single plastic milk bottle in the country,” he said.
And while milking the dairy carton markets, the company is also talking to big name cosmetics makers about packaging deals and fielding inquiries from Ireland and Europe.
Its turnover has swelled to £10m in a few months and the goal is to reach its projected figure of around £13m in the next eight months.
Another four staff members have been taken on to help cope with the influx of orders, increasing the company’s numbers to 75.
Mr Donaldson said the company planned to grow the Redcar-based business.
“We are committed to expansion,” Mr Donaldson added.
“Wilton and the North-east is a good place for the heavy recycling industry.”
The NRA award follows on the heels of the prestigious Valpak Award for Best Use of PRN (Packaging Recovery Note) Funds category and the Queen’s Award for Enterprise (Innovation).
But one of the biggest coups for the company has been meeting the exacting standards of the UK’s food industry.
Marks and Spencer has approved the material for use in its organic food range - a move that is considered a major seal of approval within the sector, while other contracts have been signed for its use in trays and punnets for poultry and vegetables.
“Food approval processes are very strict, it has taken a long time to get to this point.
“Now the food companies are taking up the product, things are really starting to accelerate,” Mr Donaldson said.
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