Royal honours for Tees trio

Apr 21 2009 by Karen McLauchlan, Evening Gazette

AN innovative Billingham firm, which was recently named the best in business in the Tees Valley, has now earned the royal seal of approval.

Billingham-based Tracerco is one of three Tees Valley firms today celebrating success in the prestigious Queen’s Awards for Enterprise 2009.

The award is the latest good news for Tracerco, which lifted the Company of the Year title at the recent nebusiness awards.

Tracerco employs around 300 staff - with 130 based at its global headquarters in Billingham.

And staff numbers are to grow by another 25 this year - 15 of those jobs on Teesside.

The company was today rewarded with the Innovation title for its development of a range of portable radiation monitoring instruments designed for safe use in hazardous environments, particularly those having flammable and explosive atmospheres.

Also picking up the Innovation title is Greenstar WES of Wilton Industrial Park near Redcar. The award has been given for the firm’s work in processing waste plastics into hygienic recycled material now found in millions of food trays and milk bottles across the country.

Greenstar WES founder and managing director James Donaldson said: “The Queen’s Award is a tribute to typical British ingenuity and application, and I and all my staff feel very privileged to have our hard work rewarded in this manner.”

Greenstar WES receives up to 2,000 tonnes of baled plastics each month. Its current annual processing capacity of around 25,000 tonnes of plastics will save an estimated 37,000 tonnes of carbon emissions, as well as helping reduce the use of fossil fuels and virgin materials.

In the International Trade category Thornaby-based Cleveland Cascades was also a Queen’s Award winner.

The firm, which invented and patented environmentally-friendly dust-free loading chutes for handling dry bulk materials, has secured more than 90% of its sales from the export market in the last five years.

The company was also a finalist in the export category at the nebusiness awards.

Business Minister, Lord Mandelson, said: “I heartily congratulate all today’s winners of The Queen’s Awards. These inspirational firms have proved they are amongst Britain's very best businesses. They are flying the flag for British enterprise, innovation and corporate responsibility, both here and abroad. They have achieved the UK’s most prestigious standard of business excellence, and set the standard for other businesses to follow as they help lead Britain out of recession.”