Smith’s News identified an opportunity to offer their clients an easier way to recycle.
With the logistical infrastructure already existing, establishing a fit-for-purpose recycling system was a good, added value use of their resources. They wanted to provide retailers with their own means of sending cardboard and plastic for recycling and give them an easy outlet for the processing of it.
“We developed a recycling collection service for our customer base,” explained Simon Meyer, who led the initiative at Smiths News. “It started as an experiment in our Birmingham depot, but we grew beyond that to England and Wales. We used our network to backhaul the collections to our hubs.”
The idea was sound, but having not been experts in recycling, Smiths were starting to experience bottlenecks and see flaws in their existing operation, so they turned to Genus Recycling for help.
“Initially that service was failing. It was taking quite a lot of time, productivity was low, and labour time was increasing with an ever-growing backlog,” Simon continued. “We needed to change tact.”
Simon knew of Rick and Pat at Genus from previous industry experience and suggested inviting them in to provide some consultancy.
“The Genus team went out on trips with our drivers, reviewed our warehouse processes and met with customers” explains Simon. “They came back with options for how we could change our processes, from how we sorted our collections to using compactors. We worked through their recommendations, and it certainly helped us to be a lot more efficient and cost-effective.”
Simon continues, “Genus brings a great deal of expertise in the recycling market, but on top of that, they were engaging and very quick to respond. What I liked most was that they were comfortable to challenge us when we needed challenging. They articulated well and didn’t just tell us what we wanted to hear.”
Even in the trial phase of the plan roll-out, Smiths News saw marked improvements. With upgrades in machinery, efficiency increased, and the consequent backlog and cost of recycling significantly decreased.
“The change that has had the biggest impact is moving from baling into using compactors,” added Simon. “Now the product doesn’t come into the warehouse – it’s offloaded and tipped straight into a compactor, so all the manual handling has been removed. There is still a tiny bit of sorting, but to this point, we’ve not had any carry-over, where we haven’t been able to finish processing from week to week.”
Now, with their investment already paying off – having seen them triple their productivity since implementing Genus’ plan – Smiths News can continue to help their clients with this service, efficiently and profitably.
Simon said; “I would definitely recommend Genus. For me, it’s all about their expertise.”
At Genus Recycling, offering advice to optimise recycling processes comes naturally. Backed by 60 years of experience in the recycling industry, our expertise and connections are available to any business that is looking to play its part in the recycling chain. If you’re ready to explore your options, we’re here to help.