J&B News & Updates

28.09.22 | Business News

J&B Recycling are delighted to have been shortlisted for two categories in the MRW National Recycling Awards 2022. Our Materials Recovery Facility in Hartlepool has been shortlisted for ‘Recycling Facility of the Year’ and we have been shortlisted jointly with Hull City Council in the ‘Partnership Excellence – Public/Private sector’ category.

The MRW National Recycling Awards are the most prestigious awards in the recycling and resource management sector, with winning projects and teams rightly recognised for their achievements within the industry and further along the supply chain.

Vikki Jackson-Smith, Managing Director at J&B Recycling says, “We are absolutely delighted to be shortlisted for two awards. Our Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) in Hartlepool is the culmination of 25 years of hard work. We believe we have adopted a unique and innovative approach in developing the MRF, which makes it one of the most efficient processing plants in the UK”.

The Recycling Facility of the Year award recognises a waste and/or recycling facility that demonstrates exemplary operation through innovation and/or improved management.

J&B Recycling’s facility on Windermere Road in Hartlepool is the largest of J&B’s Materials Recovery Facilities (MRF), 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. In 2021 The MRF processed 140,000 tonnes of waste. In 2022 the permit capacity has been increased to up to 175,000 tonnes.

J&B have achieved this by adopting a unique and innovative approach to good design, operational and contractual practices from larger processing industries such as Oil/Gas and Petrochemicals, typically well served by process engineers, optimisation engineers and contract modelling.

The Partnership Excellence – Public/Private sector category recognises true partnerships and innovative working that goes beyond the norm and standard contractual arrangements and good practice to manage waste and resources sustainably and effectively. It seeks to highlight creative ideas and new ways of working that can inspire others in the sector.

Vikki says, “Hull City Council have worked incredibly hard with us over the last 7-years to improve their recycling rates, so being shortlisted jointly with them for the Partnership Excellence – Public/Private sector category is great recognition for all of our joint efforts”.

J&B Recycling and Hull City Council have been working in partnership since 2015 to improve kerbside recycling rates across Hull’s 123,000 households. Hull City Council are responsible for collecting kerbside recycling waste. All materials are then collected by J&B from a transfer station and transported to their Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) in Hartlepool.

Prior to the partnership, contamination rates of the 20,000+ tonnes of waste collected were well over 20%. By working together to improve the quality of materials collected, there has been a significant improvement in contamination. In 2021 contamination rates were consistently below 12% - well below the contract specification of 15%.

The award ceremony takes place on 6 December at the Westminster Park Plaza in London.