02.09.03
ReMaDe help Green Glass get ready to grow

One of the UK's top manufacturers of recycled goods is gearing up for a major expansion with the help of Objective One project ReMaDe Kernow.

Green Glass UK came top in the 2001 National Recycling Awards with their range of unique glassware produced from recycled bottles, winning the title of Recycled Product of the Year.

Since then, the Wadebridge-based company has gone from strength to strength, with orders soaring and demand threatening to outstrip supply.

Now, following the installation of an automated production line earlier this year, Green Glass UK founders Glenn Slade and Jo Traill Thompson are preparing to put in new equipment that will help the company double their production capacity.

They have also been working with ReMaDe Kernow to improve the Green Glass UK website and make it easier for people to buy from the company direct.

David Hunt from ReMaDe said: "We've been working with Green Glass UK since the beginning. We helped Glenn and Jo draw up their original business plan and bought the annealing oven that they needed in order to start production. Since then, we've been working with the company to build up the business. Most recently, we've been helping Green Glass UK to develop their strategic marketing – that's included looking at their website and adding an e-commerce facility.”

ReMaDe Kernow was set up in order to develop bigger and stronger markets for recycled materials in Cornwall and David added that although Green Glass UK sales have been booming, most of the company's sales have been through other retailers.

The glassware produced by Green Glass UK is made by cutting the bottom off bottles and sealing them to the top of the neck in order to create a goblet-type design. As well as proving extremely popular with customers and winning the 2001 award, the company's products have also been featured in The Guardian, in numerous magazines and on the BBC and ITV news.

David said: "Obviously, if Green Glass can sell direct to customers it increases the profit for the company and helps them to be more competitive. The new equipment represents a major expansion for the company and having an improved website with an e-commerce facility will make if possible for Green Glass UK to sell direct to many more people, much more easily.”

Glenn Slade and Jo Traill Thompson set up Green Glass UK after seeing the concept in South Africa, where it originated.

Glenn said: "We knew the idea was a winner but when we started off in Cornwall we were literally working out of a shed at the bottom of the garden. ReMaDe has been an enormous help in getting the company onto a solid footing and Green Glass UK has been a wonderful success. Now we're ready to embark on the next stage of development and having a fully functional e-commerce website will greatly help us to both promote and sell our wares.”

Glenn added: "We're on a mission to make Green Glass a household name in the UK for quality recycled glasses and environmental innovation and working with ReMaDe Kernow is proving an enormous help.”

Editor's notes:

ReMaDe Kernow – background

ReMaDe Kernow is one of the first environmental projects to achieve funding from the Objective One Programme. It is also the first of several projects conceived, funded and managed by the Cornwall Waste Working Group – recently re-branded as 'ReZolve'.

ReZolve has a diverse membership from across Cornwall, and is dedicated to exploring the issues relating to waste in the county, and promoting activities which will lead to integrated waste management and the implementation of the waste hierarchy in Cornwall (reduce, reuse, recycle).

ReMaDe – which stands for Recycling Market Development – was set up in Cornwall in 2001 in order to develop bigger and stronger markets for recycled materials. Its launch followed a detailed study that predicted more than 550 jobs and £21 million a year could be generated for the economy by 2015 through making use of the 400,000 tonnes of rubbish that goes into landfill sites every year.

Developing new markets, products and materials

ReMaDe Kernow's first phase has involved working with a wide range of partners – businesses, entrepreneurs, local authorities and the voluntary sector – to develop new markets, new products, and new materials.

Using imagination and innovation – as well as hard business sense – this has resulted in a number of innovative and exciting projects – ranging from schemes for producing new composite materials using waste rubber from old truck tyres mixed with plastic and wood waste, to using worms for large scale composting of household waste.

Funding

Funders for ReMaDe Kernow are: Objective One Programme, County Environmental Trust, the Regional Development Agency (Rural Development Programme), Cornwall Enterprise, Cornwall County Council, and all the District Councils of Cornwall.

For further information please contact:

Michael Poole
ReMaDe Kernow
Tel: 01579 349316

Deborah Clark
Deborah Clark & Associates
Tel: 01872 276276
e-mail: dclark@dclark.co.uk

Jason Clark
Communications Adviser
Objective One Partnership Office
Castle House
Pydar Street
Truro TR1 2UD
Tel: 01872 241379
Fax: 01872 241388
objectiveone@cornwall.gov.uk

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