BUSINESS REVIEW
SUSTAINABLE WASTE MANAGEMENT
Chief Executive Officer
Greenstar (UK)
Ian has been involved in the European waste and recycling industry for over 20 years and together with his co-founders has grown Greenstar UK to become one of the UK’s most respected recycling organisations.
Greenstar is the United Kingdom’s premier recycling-led waste management company, offering total waste management and recycling solutions to large single site and multi-site clients.
Despite the immediate challenges for recycling posed by the economic downturn in the United Kingdom, which have required cost reductions and rigorous margin management, the business has also continued with its investment plans to further strengthen its position by having state-of-the-art materials recovery facilities (MRFs) in prime catchment areas, together with some of the most advanced material upgrading capabilities in the country.
The business has commissioned a 180,000 tonnes capacity Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) in Aldridge, outside Birmingham – the largest comingled MRF in the United Kingdom - and has secured a site together with the necessary licences for a facility and transfer station in North London, which will serve a catchment population of some 6-8 million people.
Greenstar UK has also become the world’s first commercial producer of food grade recycled plastic, where recycled plastic milk bottles are converted to super clean, high grade plastic chips used in the manufacturing of new plastic milk bottles and food containers. With UK and European standards approvals successfully achieved, Greenstar’s Redcar plant in Northumberland now supplies Marks & Spencer and other major retailers across Europe with food grade recycled bottles. In April 2009, the Company won a Queen’s Award for Enterprise for its technological innovation and application.
The municipal services and collections operations have grown from strength to strength and have experienced a growth of over 20% within an industry that has seen significant downward pressure on volumes. The business also successfully launched “Greenspace”, a comingled recycling service that both makes recycling easier and more cost-efficient for commercial and industrial customers and plans to expand the service across all its facilities over the coming year.
Greenstar UK has identified the energy from waste market as an opportunity for growth and has partnered with E.ON Waste For Energy to bid for a number of upcoming residual waste treatment contracts currently being tendered across Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Greenstar UK is confident that the strength of its consortium leaves it well placed to be a very strong participant in the energy from waste Private Finance Initiative market.
