New jobs and record sales at Coseley recycling firm

Recycled UK, which employs 28 people at its Cannon Business Park site in Coseley, has added more than £1 million of sales in 2013 and is now processing and securely destroying over 30 tonnes of CDs, DVDs and video games per week for blue chip organisations from the entertainment sector.

Bosses at the firm believe its decision to spend £150,000 on the specialist bonded warehouse, twelve picking stations and baling machines has given it the advantage over other rivals in its field.

The company has even invested a further £50,000 into an automated shredder and baler, which means that once the item intended for destruction has entered the process it never leaves the track.

Managing director Paul Green said: "The secure bonded warehouse has been a huge success in its first year of operation and has really helped us take the business into our next phase of growth. Thanks to the new orders we've won, I believe we'll reach a record £2.1m turnover in 2013.

"With counterfeit goods such a big issue for firms, customers demand total peace of mind. From the minute the product arrives at Coseley in one of our trucks, we log it then track it throughout the various secure destruction phases.

"The client even gets a record of its destruction and – through a web link – can watch their order being completed. Better still, all of this is free of charge."

He added: "We have just been audited, approved and re-accredited by FACT (Federation Against Copyright Theft), which is massive in our industry and will lead to even more work."

Established in 2006 by Paul Green and Paul Cotton, Recycled UK has grown from a small start-up to one of the sector's leading figures in delivering high quality recycling services in hard plastics, cardboards and film.

In line with the introduction of the bonded warehouse last year, the firm also invested in developing vision imaging software to provide a new solution for disposing of old x-ray films for the medical sector.

The technology can filter the files to ensure only the right ones are extracted and securely destroyed.

It also takes a digital image of the label, including patient ID, so clients not only receive an electronic record but one that can be searched for in EXEL to help with recovery of information.

Recycled UK's Paul Cotton picked up the story: "All work is carried out in compliance with hospital information governance and medical record policy and orders have already been successfully completed.

"In fact, the NHS has really embraced this offer. We are currently working with about 60 trusts across the UK and have already processed in excess of 900 tonnes, collectively saving them more than £1m annually on their storage and eventual disposal costs."