One of Telford’s largest manufacturing companies has stepped up its environmentally-friendly activities with the opening of a new recycling centre.
GKN, which makes parts for major manufacturers of light vehicles, agricultural and construction equipment, officially opened the site at its Hadley Castle plant at a launch event attended by civic leaders and representatives of other major businesses. The centre will be used to recycle cardboard, plastics, wood and paper.
The company is a member of the Business Environmental Support Scheme for Telford (BESST), a partnership between local and private sector businesses working to help companies improve their environmental performance.
The opening of the new centre has been welcomed by Transforming Telford, the economic development organisation for the area, which helped to organise the launch event.
Transforming Telford director of business and investment Anne Taylor, who attended the launch, said: “GKN has been an active member of BESST for a number of years, and has benefited from the sharing of best practice with other companies.
“The development of the recycling centre will allow GKN to reduce its waste management costs through the recycling of more materials and the effective management of its waste production.”
GKN has worked closely with waste recycling specialists Veolia to create the new centre, which is being run by the company’s employees. The recycling centre compound was built with recycled materials found on the GKN site by employees.
Ade Stone, a spokesman from GKN’s chassis systems division, said: “The development of a recycling centre is part of the company’s wider reduction of its environmental impact and development of the site. GKN is accredited to the ISO 14001 standard and is committed to continuous improvement and the prevention of pollution. The opening of the recycling centre is a significant step along this road.”
Among the guests at the centre’s opening were Telford & Wrekin councillors Miles Hosken and Stephen Bentley, as well as BESST members Andy Whyle from Ricoh and Manuel Roura from DENSO.
They were greeted by GKN’s General Manager Steve Norgrove and staff who helped set up the centre.
The BESST group is a partnership of local and private sector businesses including Transforming Telford, Ricoh, Maxell, Simmonsigns, DENSO, Telford Extrusions, and Lyreco. It offers free advice to all companies focusing on resource efficiency and minimising waste.
