THE North East’s biggest independent waste management firm, J&B Recycling, has been awarded the contract to process North Tyneside Council’s kerbside recyclable waste.
The contract, which has a combined value of over £3m across two years, will see J&B processing 17,000 tonnes a year of separately collected glass and comingled recycles.
The contract has started well and is already bringing benefits to North Tyneside Council, with an increase in the amount of material being recovered.
Running for two years with the possibility for an extension, the contract also sees J&B working with North Tyneside Council to look at expanding the range of materials that can be recycled such as pots, tubs and trays.
Vikki Jackson-Smith, Managing Director at J&B Recycling, said: “This is a key milestone for J&B and continues our expansion in the north of the region.”
The company secured a £7.5m investment in 2014 and has since spent £2.5m on the improvement of its existing plant, recently reporting 40% growth on top of the audited previous year’s 100% growth.
Vikki continued: “We’re looking forward to working with North Tyneside Council in terms of best practice, looking at improvements to the service and being proactive on waste awareness.”
After visiting J&B’s processing facilities and experiencing the level of automation and quality of the materials produced for future markets, North Tyneside Council was impressed with the operation.
Colin MacDonald, Senior Manager of Technical and Regulatory Services at North Tyneside Council, said: “We have been impressed by the extent of the technology J&B deploys at its MRF with the early signs being that we are now being able to extract even better value from our materials than before.
“We were able to make the transition to the new contract with ease. Our experiences of early relationship-building has been positive – there is a real commitment to developing a partnership approach which is meeting the promises made during the contract tender stage.”
In order to service part of the contract, J&B has also invested £104k to increase its fleet of vehicles and walking floor trailers.
The Hartlepool-based waste management firm specialises in the receipt, haulage and processing of co-mingled recyclables from a number of local authorities already including Sunderland City Council, Scottish Borders Council and Craven Council.
