Award confirms recycling best practices in awards ceremony in London

RPC bpi recycled products has been named ‘Plastics Recycling Business of the Year’ in The Awards for Excellence in Recycling and Waste Management, organised by Letsrecycle.com, the UK’s leading independent website for the sector.

The Awards are the most prestigious event in the environmental calendar, providing industry recognition for businesses’ achievements in reducing waste to landfill. RPC bpi recycled products took the award in one of the hardest-fought and most competitive of the 16 categories.

The company’s entry focused on the major steps it has taken to improve not just its recycling but its overall sustainability performance. This has been delivered through heavy investment in technology, the adoption of circular economy principles, lowering the business’s carbon footprint and reducing the amounts of waste it sends to landfill.

In 2016, for example, RPC bpi recycled products reached an ambitious zero waste-to-landfill goal, independently accredited by Valpak, across three of its four manufacturing sites. It now segregates 85% of its waste, ranging from damaged pallets to used ink rags, for reuse and recycling. The task was achieved by engaging with staff to explain the impact of waste and how to make sustainable choices.

“It is a huge honour to be named Plastics Recycling Business of the Year,” comments Sian Miles, Purchasing Director, RPC bpi recycled products. “The selection process was stringent and thorough and even to make the shortlist was a giant achievement. The judges got to know our business, our ambitions and our commitment, so to win the top prize is all the more rewarding.

“It is also a testament to the dedication and hard work of our talented staff in our four UK sites, in Stroud, Heanor, Rhymney and Dumfries.”

RPC bpi recycled products is the UK’s largest producer of refuse sacks, and the largest polythene recycler in Europe. The company recycles over 70,000 tonnes of polythene each year. This is converted in the UK into high-performance finished goods, including: the Green Sack™ and Visqueen Ultimate ranges of sacks; Visqueen – the market leader in the manufacture and supply of structural waterproofing and gas protection systems; and Plaswood lumber used to make high-quality benches, fencing and other street furniture.

“This award has much wider significance,” continues Sian Miles. “It is proof positive of how businesses are taking specific, demonstrable steps towards meeting some of the 21st-century's biggest challenges – reducing waste to landfill, recycling more, and reusing everything wherever possible.

“The recent Blue Planet II TV documentary marked a major turning point in how the public and the UK's decision makers view consumption and post-consumer plastic. However, at RPC bpi recycled products, recycling more and wasting less has always been second nature. The Plastics Recycling Business of the Year award recognises our pioneering approach.”