Focus on…Uxbridge Recycling Centre

GBN’s Uxbridge recycling centre is the largest of GBN’s six sites and has benefited from significant investment. When the depot was taken over from Uxbridge Recycling in 2011, just 12 vehicles were in operation. Today, that number has risen to 45. Alongside new vehicles, featuring the latest low emission and safety technology,  the company has installed innovative equipment to separate materials for recycling and a dedicated vehicle workshop.

“The investment we have made here – including vehicles and plant – has been colossal, to the tune of many millions of pounds” explains depot manager Martin Carroll.

“The latest addition has been a state-of-the-art workshop, completed earlier this year, which ensures that our fleet is maintained to the highest standard with the minimum amount of time off the road. The facility services our fleet of vehicles including skip lorries, roll on roll off vehicles and trailers.”

Licensed to process 160,000 tonnes of material a year, the three and a half acre Uxbridge site serves a broad ranges of customers in West London and the surrounding areas and sendsout about 180 skips every day.

Once waste enters the site, it is weighed, checked and sorted mechanically before being  separated by hand into different material streams. Over 90% is recycled and where possible the company finds local outlets for the material. And, in order to divert even more waste from landfill, GBN produces a refuse-derived-fuel from material which cannot be recycled. This is sent to energy-from-waste plants in Europe.

Customers choose GBN, Mr Carroll explains, “For our service, our recycling rates, and because our coverage is massive, extending from Southend in the East to Slough in the West.”

“When customers call up they deal directly with our depot”, says Mr Carroll. “That is good because we have local knowledge, they know our staff personally and have a laugh together.”

Looking to the future, Mr Carroll says that GBN will continue to invest in processing equipment at the Uxbridge site. He comments: “Working for GBN is exciting and ever-changing, you never know what is around the corner.”