Sustainability remains at the heart of Centriforce’s growth

Merseyside plastics recycler Centriforce is flourishing thanks to innovation, sustainable products and increased exporting...

Centriforce is a North West company that gives empty plastic bottles and packaging film a new lease of life - and simultaneously diverts around 15,000 tonnes of waste from landfill each year.

Since 1976, it has been at the forefront of manufacturing a range of sustainable products using unwanted plastics from this region and beyond.

Put simply, the plastic waste is chopped, shredded, heated up and subsequently extruded at the firm's six acre site in Liverpool's Derby Road.

Among Centriforce’s products is a patented sustainable alternative to plywood called Stokbord which can be utilised in many applications, such as walkways, benches, ground protection mats and stabling for animals and livestock.

Skokbord is also the key component of the firm’s cable protection covers that have now overtaken concrete-based products as the industry standard

Over the past decade, these covers have become the market leader and - in addition to supplying many of the UK's leading utilities companies - it's these products which are fuelling its export growth.

Today, Centriforce's 70 staff work round the clock to meet its customers' orders and its sales have doubled to £10m in recent years.

Exporting success

Centriforce's exports have grown from around 10 per cent in 2005 to around 25 per cent of its total sales today.

Managing director Simon Carroll attributes this exporting success to the company's "innovative" and "superior" products.

He said: "Five years ago, we consciously set out to increase the exporting side of the business - and decided to focus on the Middle East.

"It was the right move in view of what has happened to the economy in Europe over that period.

"But we've also demonstrated that the market in the Middle East likes our product - despite the downturn there are lots of construction projects going on.

"So far, we've largely been focused on marketing our cable protection covers overseas.

"These covers - which are made from recycled plastic - are positioned above power, telephone and gas cables or water pipes which are buried in the earth.

"They allow workers digging up the ground to immediately identify potential danger.

"Until we took our product to market, a concrete product was used which was nowhere near as light or impact resistant.

"Quite apart from sales in the UK, this product has also proved popular in most European countries as well as the Middle East.

"I think that there's now potential to grow exports of our other Stokbord products abroad - and that's what we will be looking to achieve in the future.

"It undoubtedly takes a lot of time and effort to grow your business overseas but, in our experience, it is definitely worth it."

Closing the loop

Over the past decade, Centriforce has also seen its 'closed loop' recycling programme gain momentum among supermarkets, construction companies and local authorities.

This enables companies to convert their waste plastic into products which they can subsequently use or retail.

Mr Carroll adds: "A good example of this would be our work with the Waitrose supermarket chain.

"We have taken their transit packaging waste as well as their used Bags for Life and turned them into posts and planks. These, in turn, are sold to a third party who use them to make outdoor furniture.

"Waitrose then buys this furniture and often donates it to community and school projects.

"We believe that the combination of recycling experience, technical competence, our open approach to new ideas and unique 'waste to product' process puts us at the forefront of the plastics recycling industry."

Innovation and environmental pressures
Centriforce believes that continued innovation remains central to its ongoing growth and success.

And it constantly strives to take new products to the marketplace.

Mr Carroll adds: "The success of Stokbord can be clearly demonstrated.

"But we are now looking to create other products which mirror the stiffness of plywood even more closely.

"When these are taken to market, they will have even more benefits for the construction, civil engineering and utilities sectors."

Mr Carroll believes that environmental pressures are also likely to play a part in Centriforce's evolution.

He adds: "At the moment, around 80 per cent of this country's plastic waste is shipped overseas.

"The majority of it goes to China which is a manufacturing hotbed which is only too happy to take our waste and then sort through it by hand.

"This situation is entirely unsustainable - there’s the carbon impact connected with shipping the waste overseas and then there’s the fact that we are also losing a valuable resource.

“There’s tremendous potential to create jobs in the recycling sector and for it to achieve massive economic growth.

“But first, we’ve got to change the way that we view waste and start to realise that it is potentially a valuable resource for manufacturing which can be used sustainably.”