An award-winning recycling firm is helping Lidl minimise the cost and environmental impact of its waste disposal after developing solutions for the majority of its waste materials.
J&B Recycling’s original contract with Lidl was to remove the company’s general waste from the firm’s regional distribution centre in Newton Aycliffe.
Since then, J&B has introduced a variety of solutions for different waste streams including those that are harder to find a recycling home for, such as plant pots, ceramics, and even bags of charcoal.
The majority of waste collected is taken to one of J&B’s local recovery facilities before being sent for recycling, rather than heading to landfill.
The chain has more than 620 stores nationwide, with 90 in the North East and outlying areas, and when waste is returned from the local stores back to Newton Aycliffe, J&B Recycling make collections on an almost daily basis to collect different materials for recycling
James Bragg, Lidl’s consultant for Recycling & Waste Logistics, said: “We obviously produce waste from our stores, and as a company it is our policy to recycle rather than send that waste to landfill.
“J&B Recycling started off their contract with us by removing general waste, but that now expands to metal, wood, glass, plastics, some electrical waste and other redundant products.
“We are delighted to be working alongside J&B Recycling, they provide good service levels and have an excellent local knowledge which opens doors and gives us avenues into different markets in terms of the recycling chain.”
J&B’s commercial manager Mark Penny said: “We have developed a strong partnership with Lidl that has benefited both companies. We handle a variety of wastes such as magazines, leaflets and even their hazardous waste.
“The food waste is taken to an anaerobic digestion plant which creates new energy for the local area, and then everything else is sorted into the relevant categories and recycled accordingly.
“There is a certain amount of waste generated from all of the stores across the North East, and once that is all returned to the distribution centre in Aycliffe, Lidl staff segregate it into different streams within their own recycling centre which is on site.
“J&B then collect a significant proportion of this for additional sorting and or recycling.
“We have been working with Lidl since 2011, and have built up an excellent working relationship with them over the last few years.
“It is always good to be involved with big national names such as Lidl, and we look forward to working with them in the future.”
J&B Recycling handles approximately 120,000 tonnes of waste each year from household, commercial, industrial and construction sources with customers including car parts manufacturer Nifco UK, Camerons Brewery and thousands of community buildings, pubs and restaurants.