J&B News & Updates

07.12.22 | Press Releases

Waste management specialists, J&B Recycling, have won the ‘Recycling Facility of the Year’ at the National Recycling Awards for their ‘Windermere’ Material Recovery Facility (MRF) in Hartlepool, recognising exemplary operation through innovation and improved management.

The MRW National Recycling Awards, which were held on Tuesday 6th December at Westminster Park Plaza, London, are the most prestigious awards in the recycling and resource management sector, with winning projects and teams recognised for their achievements within the industry and further along the supply chain.

Vikki Jackson-Smith, Managing Director of J&B Recycling, says, “We are absolutely thrilled to have been awarded this prestigious award recognising the quality of our operations at the Windermere MRF, which is reflected across all of our sites”.

“We have invested millions of pounds over the last few years to improve the efficiency of our MRF. The planning and implementation of the many upgrades and efficiency measures have been a huge team effort, so winning ‘Recycling Facility of the Year’ is great recognition for the whole team and shows just how much we have achieved”.

J&B Recycling are the North East’s largest Waste Management Company processing both Local Authority and commercial waste streams. They operate from 20 acres of highly developed facilities across the region with a team of 200+ staff and a fleet of 17 vehicles collecting and processing over 200,000 tonnes of waste materials per annum.

The Windermere MRF is the largest of J&B Recycling’s facilities, contributing to around 80% of processing operations across the business. Over the last 5-years, the MRF has increased processing capacity by over 100%, through efficiency improvements. The MRF processed 140,000 tonnes of waste in 2021. In 2022 the permit capacity was increased to 175,000 tonnes per annum.

Vikki says, “J&B have achieved this by adopting a unique and innovative approach to good design, operational and contractual practices, based on the proven practises of larger processing industries such as Oil/Gas and Petrochemicals, typically well served by process engineers, optimisation engineers and contract modelling.”

J&B Recycling was praised by the expert judging panel, who are drawn from across the recycling sector. They commented that J&B Recycling is “a well-managed facility, that has learned from other industries, and is going from strength to strength. It clearly demonstrated how improvements to the facility and its operations led to improved material outputs and throughput, as well as financial success.”

The J&B Recycling team were disappointed to have missed out on the ‘Partnership Excellence – Public/Private Sector’ award, which they were shortlisted for jointly with Hull City Council.

Vikki says, “Whilst we were disappointed not to have won the award, we are incredibly proud of everything we have achieved working alongside Hull City Council. By working together to improve the quality of materials collected, there has been a significant improvement in contamination rates from over 20% prior to the contract start date, to consistently below 12% in 2021.” I would like to take the opportunity to thank them for their ongoing support and commitment to improve recycling rates.”

J&B Recycling is a waste management firm that specialises in the receipt, haulage and processing of co-mingled recyclables from a number of local authorities across the North of England and Scotland. Established by Vikki Jackson-Smith in 1998 to diversify the parent company’s solid fuel business, J&B Recycling has grown from a small family managed business into a reputable, established recycling and waste management company.

In July 2021 J&B Recycling were acquired by Urbaser Ltd, UK subsidiary of the Urbaser Group. Urbaser is a leading global environmental management company, focused on sustainability and innovation, serving more than 70 million people in 21 countries through a network of more than 59,000 employees. In the United Kingdom, Urbaser Ltd is a leading waste management company, offering a wide range of municipal, commercial, and waste treatment and recovery services which are dedicated to conserving resources, reducing carbon emissions, and achieving a circular economy.