Shore Recycling

Employing Polish workers has helped Shore Recycling expand rapidly

Set up in 2002, Shore Recycling is one of the UK's biggest refrigeration recyclers and the first facility in Scotland able to process electronic and electrical waste required by the major new European law,the WEEE Regulations ,which came into force July 2007.

The company has invested £10m in its five-acre site in Perth, which breaks up, treats and recycles 100 tons a day of domestic and industrial waste, including 100 fridges an hour, 24-hours a day, and around 7,000 TV sets and monitors a week. The company has also aquired a similar business in St Helens,Merseyside which will double the companies activities in coming months.

About 54 of Shore's 138 staff are Poles who have approached the company through referrals.

"It's improved our business fundamentals,."says Todd of his Polish team."We were growing very fast but were actually finding it very difficult to recruit sufficient labour from this local area.I would quite openly say that if it was not for the availibility of Polish workers,we would not have been able to expand at the rate that we have.It is quite likely that we will repeat this recruitment policy at our newly aquired plant in St Helens."

The fact that Shore offers well-paid work that is full-time and permanent is a major selling point, Todd suggests. The Polish workers are doing jobs including yard work – mainly loading and unloading material from lorries for the recycling lines – mechanical operators to work the recycling machines and drivers. Training in manual and mechanical handling is part of the package.

Shore's state-of-the-art plant basically removes harmful gases and components from waste goods and breaks them down into steel, non-steel, plastic, glass and foam which can then be recycled and made into other goods.

Case study 2006

• www.shore-recycling.co.uk