New jobs joy for recycling firm
A recycling firm has taken on new staff and is predicting growth for the fourth year in a row despite the impact of coronavirus on the economy.
Waste management firm J&B Recycling, which has an operation in Washington, has created 20 new jobs since February and now employs more than 200 people across its four sites in the region.
T h e c o m p a ny e x p e r i - enced a 30% growth in the first quarter of the year compared to the same period the previous year, despite three departments in the company operating on reduced tonnages and services.
It is now looking towards achieving a fourth consecutive year of growth despite a challenging few months that have been impacted by a very tough market environment significantly affected by lower commodity prices and lockdown.
C E O o f J&B R e c yc l i n g Vikki Jackson-Smith said: "Our teams have shown comm i t m e n t a n d d e d i c at i o n throughout our growth and even more so over these challenging months.
"We're thrilled to be add
ing to a strong and skilled team of staff and are keen to encourage p rogression throughout the business into more senior level roles.
"Our recent five-year programme of ongoing investm e nt i nto i n f ra s tr uc tu re, process optimisation and automation has meant J&B has undertaken a huge transformation; taking the business from a basic low-tech operation to an industry leading high-tech facility."
The company, which had a turnover of £17m in 2019, says the impact of coronavirus has been managed by operational efficiencies and five years of investment and forecasts predict the business to come out of the pandemic in a stronger
position.
J&B Recycling has two recycling facilities in Hartlepool and also operates waste transfer sites at Washington and Middlesbrough.
The first three months of lockdown measures saw J&B suffer a reduction in its commercial tonnages by 60%, but that was mitigated by contracted household kerbside tonnages increase by 30%.
At the beginning of lockdown in March the company quickly reorganised so that more than 95% of staff stayed working. Only 5% of staff were furloughed, where they or someone in their household needed to shield, or if they could not be temporarily relocated to another role.