Recycling – making a difference

By Angela Prichard,

Ever thought what happens to the items you put in the recycling bin, or take to a recycling centre, commonly known as ‘The Tip’?   In Suffolk it’s down to FCC Environment, the UK’s leading waste and resource management company, based at Masterlord Office Village. The company manages business and municipal waste from 1.3m people across the country to recycle and process and turn green waste into valuable compost. 

 It’s part of a huge operation employing over 55,000 people in the UK, Europe, Africa, the USA and South America, with 2,500 staff based in the UK.  In Suffolk, FCC Environment operates 11 recycling centres to sort and repurpose our unwanted items. Looking after them is Contracts Manager Paul Smith, who has 18 years’ waste industry experience.  He was a research biologist in pharmaceuticals for 25 years, transferring those skills to his new role.

 “The challenge is separating the waste, using both automatic and manual sorting,” says Paul Smith. “It’s all about materials recovery, with anything that cannot be recycled going to generate energy for the national grid.  People want to do the right thing by recycling. There’s more awareness of the impact on the planet of everything from packaging to plastics.”

 An innovation at some Suffolk recycling centres is re-use shops, allowing people to buy unwanted items that would otherwise have been thrown away, such as furniture or toys. Operated by charity partner the Benjamin Foundation, the shops have proved hugely popular.  The Benjamin Foundation use their profits to provide supported and sheltered accommodation for disadvantaged young people across Suffolk.

FCC Environment also has a proactive education programme, taking the recycling message to schools and colleges and local community groups. 

There are two areas where we can all help to make recycling easier: rinse plastic containers and ready-meal packaging to remove food residue, as this gloop can affect the sorting machinery.  And don’t put disposable nappies in the recycling bin. Think about it! They contaminate the recycling process. 

“No two days are the same,’ adds Paul. “At our recycling centres, we’re there to advise and help people, and train our staff in customer service, health and safety and environmental law.  We also provide a chargeable service for trade waste.  Everyone has a part to play in making sure we re-use, recycle or recover by producing energy from waste.  Landfill is the final option.”

For more information:

www.fccenvironment.co.uk

Always a warm welcome

By Angela Prichard,

There’s a new face at Epsilon House with the arrival of Julie Barnes as our new receptionist.

Julie says, “I love meeting people as I’ve worked for over 17 years in customer-facing roles with a major insurance broker.  Moving to Epsilon House was perfect for me, I like being part of a small team, the work is so busy and varied with lots of new faces – plus I only work mornings!”

Born and raised in Ipswich, Julie is involved in activities at her local community centre and church in Castle Hill. Gardening is one of her passions outside work, and socialising of course.

“We’ve done fundraising for Ukraine at the community centre and sent boxes of much-needed supplies to Poland which then go to Ukraine. There’s a Polish school and occasional drop off centre for our Ukraine appeal. The church also offers meals for seniors, there’s always something interesting going on.”

Julie and her husband have lived in the same home for 30 years “so the garden is just how I want it now…not too much work,” she laughs.

During the pandemic, being furloughed was a new experience after being at the centre of a business, but she was soon back at work as personal contact is so important.

“It’s interesting to look after our ‘virtual’ Epsilon House tenants too, as I’m the first point of contact for people calling their business and have to ensure messages are taken professionally and passed on swiftly. Having a real person answer the phone makes a big difference, I think.”

Her 22-year-old daughter Chloe is training as a teacher.  Julie says there are a lot of people who have decided to take up teaching and put something back into the community.

“It’s a calling, working in education and seeing the effect you can have on young people.”

As Julie gets familiar with names and faces, drop by reception and say hello.

Find out more about our virtual office service here and click on Virtual & Flexi Space.