Winner ETM Recycling

RUBBISH? I could talk about it all day," says Amy McCormack. "I didn't realise how interesting recycling was until I started working here. My partner gets bored with me talking about it all the time".

Miss McCormack graduated from Oxford Brookes University in business management and after spending two years with a management consultancy she joined the recycling firm which had been set up by her father Eddie.

The choice appears to have been the right one.

ETM Recycling occupies a one-and-a- half acre site in Ashton Vale on the southern side of Bristol where Eddie McCormack spotted a gap in the market for the facility he was in the process of setting up.

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"The whole point of this company is get zero landfill so we try to recycle as many materials as possible including plastic, wood, cardboard, polythene and hardcore," said Miss McCormack, the firm's marketing manager.

"All the waste that comes to our transfer centre here is separated with hand recyclers sorting out the wood, plastic and cardboard. It is put into bales and then sent off for recycling," said Miss McCormack with all the fervour of an evangelist who has seen the light when it comes to recycling.

In its first year of trading 28,000 tonnes of waste passed through ETM's Materials Recycling Facility (MRF) at Ashton Vale.

In February this year, 91 per cent of all the waste brought here was directed from landfill. As a result the business sits nicely alongside the aims of Bristol City Council.

"The MRF was purpose built for us and is at the cutting edge of recycling technology. It includes some of the most efficient sorting methods available, such as the magnetic conveyor belts for scrap metal – this reduces the cost to the company to sort the waste which in turn reduces the cost to the customer," said Miss McCormack.

The firm has recently started to provide small businesses in the Bristol area with recycling and waste management services as more and more people opt for the greener option.

"We are located on a main route into Bristol City centre and this can reduce travelling for a number of local businesses who previously had to travel to the other side of town for recycling facilities," said Miss McCormack.

The success of the firm is a good indication that it offers the right kind of services for its fast-growing customer base across the city.

"We have a portfolio of more than 100 firms from whom we take waste. Many of them come to us through recommendation of our existing clients.

"We have bought more than 1,100 wheelie bins which we hope will be taken up by small and medium-sized enterprises for their waste. Already 20 of them are in use.

"There is a common misconception with SMEs about recycling. They think it takes time and is expensive but you can save money," said Miss McCormack.

ETM Recycling is a truly family firm. Besides the involvement of Miss McCormack and her father in the company, her brother Andrew is in charge of operations and mother Hilary is finance director.

The firm has a staff of 20 but thanks to its success is looking to expand in the very near future.

The old saying about muck and brass really does ring true in the case of this fast-growing and highly ambitious family firm.