Recycling the weight of everyone in the county
Landmark delivery for leading waste management firm
XX July 2007, Newport: A leading Newport (Welsh) recycling facility welcomes its 5000th landmark delivery this week, and is on track to recycle, in its first year, the equivalent weight of every person living in Gwent (see editor’s note 1).
Having launched its purpose-built £1 million waste treatment plant in November last year, Newport’s GD Environmental has welcomed around 30,000 tonnes of commercial waste. During the past 6 months the award-winning business has recycled more that 28,500 tonnes of the waste, an astonishing 90% of all waste received on the site.
The majority of commercial waste is from the firm’s successful skip hire business, and comprises a mixture of wood, metal, plastic, stone, mud, metal and glass.
James Norvill, managing director of GD Environmental and (BCC Welsh Entrepreneur of the Year) Western Mail Young Achiever of the Year, says that his team has worked long hours to process the high levels of incoming waste over the last 6 months many of which have been working nights to meet demand.
“Our team is passionate about recycling and we are fast building a reputation as the greenest skip hire and waste treatment company is Wales,” says Mr Norvill.
“We started recycling material from local builders, but have since taken on 15 new staff to deal with increasing daily deliveries from as far afield as Carmarthen and Bristol.
“It is a pleasure to see more and more businesses around Gwent (Wales) who are so concerned about landfill, that they are actively seeking out alternative greener options.“
“In fact, as one of the only holders of an asbestos licence in Wales, there is very little that we cannot accept,” he says.
Around three-quarters of the 330 million tonnes of waste dumped in UK landfill sites every year comes from construction, demolition, sewage sludge, farm waste and spoils.
According to James Norvill, new regulations on waste management will help reduce this figure dramatically.
“At the moment, builders and others can take their waste directly to a landfill site. However, the new Landfill Directive, coming into force on 30th October 2007, asserts that all waste must be pre-sorted in advance, allowing treatment plants like ours to recover all recyclable material,” he says.
When waste arrives at GD Environmental, it is sorted and separated into its constituent elements of wood, metal, plastic, stone, mud, metal and glass.
GD Environmental recycles its waste wood into fuel for energy plants, or it is chipped for animal bedding. Any stone or aggregate is used for road lining and raising land levels.
Plastic is bailed and exported to China, along with scrap metal, for recycling.
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Editor’s Note 1
By November 2008, GD Environmental will have recycled 50,000 tonnes of waste (estimate). This equates to the weight of 572,618 people (avg 11 stone each). According to the Office for National Statistics, the total population of Gwent is 556,600, comprising: Newport (140,000); Blaenau Gwent (68,400); Torfaen (90,300); Caerphilly (170,200); and Monmouthshire (87,700).
Editor’s Note 2
Newport City Council’s successful Wastesavers scheme recycles 27% of waste
http://www.newport.gov.uk/_dc/index.cfm?fuseaction=wasterecycle.homepage
For further information, or an interview with James Norvill, please contact:
Gerwyn Holmes
GD Environmental Services
T: 01633 277755
M: 07738 902169
E: gerwyn.holmes@gd-environmental.co.uk
or
Gareth Dupre
Magic Beans PR
M: 07833 364291
E: gareth@magicbeanspr.com
