Greenstar WES’s visit to the Palace - Award-winning plastics recycler meets the Queen
Wednesday 15 July 2009
Two representatives from Redcar-based specialist plastics processor Greenstar WES visited Buckingham Palace on Monday after the firm was awarded the equivalent of a company knighthood in this year’s Queen’s Awards for Enterprise.
Managing director James Donaldson and group project manager Chris Waite attended a special evening reception for 2009 Queen’s Award winners, hosted by Her Majesty The Queen and other members of the Royal Family such as the Dukes of Edinburgh, York and Kent.
Greenstar WES won its Queen’s Award in the Innovation category in April this year. The firm specialises in processing recycled plastic into added value material that can be reused and remanufactured into new products. In particular, Greenstar WES has led the world in developing the technology that produces food-grade recycled plastic that is remade into plastic milk bottles and other food containers.
Greenstar WES receives up to 2,000 tonnes of baled plastics each month, much of it from domestic collections processed at parent Greenstar UK’s materials recycling facilities in the West Midlands and elsewhere.
Greenstar WES's output of recycled HDPE plastic is supplied to British, Belgian, Italian, French and Dutch manufacturers, with around 60% of output contracted to major UK plastic milk bottle maker Nampak which supplies M&S’s milk bottles. The remainder goes for remanufacture into other food products, like chicken and mushroom trays, and cosmetics containers.
Chris Waite described the event as ‘absolutely outstanding and rather overwhelming’, saying “it was our privilege, as representatives of everyone at WES, to be formally presented to the Queen.” He added: “We then spent some time talking to the Duke of Kent and Lord Mandelson about our work, and they impressed us with their knowledge.”
The Queen’s Awards for Enterprise champion the UK’s most enterprising, creative and sustainable organisations from all business sectors. Companies can apply for an Award in three categories – International Trade, Innovation or Sustainable Development. The free-to-enter Awards are open to any UK-based business with two or more employees.