Haven’s total success in WEEE recycling services

Haven, the social enterprise specialists, has celebrated its 75 years of enlightened employment policies by opening a brand new, dedicated and secure recycling facility at Hillington Park.

The move follows a successful first year in business for Haven Recycle, initially based at the company’s Atholl Avenue site, where it continues to deliver high-volume contract packing services to the drinks industry.

Haven have provided meaningful employment for disabled and disadvantaged adults for more than 30 years at Hillington Park. The company’s decision to enter the profitable recycling market was proclaimed on the front page of the Hillington Herald two years ago.

Now, Haven has achieved an annual turnover of more than £2 million, and is anticipating further growth in the next few years as its new facility on Watt Road reaches its full potential.

Haven Recycle has a full SEPA waste management license and offers Waste Electrical & Electronic Equipment (WEEE) recycling.

Commercial manager Ewan Fisher said: “This includes data destruction and processing of all IT and electrical equipment. Quite literally, 100% of all material collected from customers is recycled, and absolutely nothing goes to landfill.

“Haven Recycle has already secured some high-profile local customers, including NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde, and the University of the West of Scotland. For both, we are now the sole provider of IT and electrical recycling services.”

Andrew Reid, the NHS’s Asset User Provisioning Manager for the area, commented: “Over the past six months, Haven Recycle have been delivering a reliable, cost-effective way of realising value from our redundant IT assets, providing best value for the taxpayer.

“It is also a good fit for the NHS ethos to be supporting a social enterprise in this manner. We hope to continue to partner with Haven Recycle, and look forward to building on the good relationship that’s been established.”

Ewan Fisher added: It has been a very exciting year for Haven Recycle, from starting a brand new operation to finding ourselves in a situation where the volume of business demands the opening of a new facility.

“This can be attributed to a genuine desire by organisations to really embrace the idea of a sustainable supply chain, both in terms of environmental responsibility and corporate social responsibility. I have every confidence that we can encourage even more businesses to work with Haven Recycle in this way.”

Contact: 0141 810 2450
Web: www.havenrecycle.co.uk

Coffee’s community feeling

Hillington Park’s principal landlords and developers are planning a major incursion into the world of social networking – both through new media such as Facebook and Twitter, and also through the provision of ‘Coffee Hub’ meeting places throughout the estate.

The former is an almost inevitable recognition of the marketplace, where informal and digital social interaction is an increasingly preferred means of community ‘bonding‘.

The latter takes as its model the very successful experience of the Hillington Park Innovation Centre’s own chill-out area operated by Bocadillo on the first floor of the building off Ainslie Road.

Here, people from different resident organisations can interact with each other, and with external guests to compare experiences, problems and solutions over a latte and muffin – or even something more substantial!

Results of a recent ‘Sectorlight’ occupier survey at Hillington Park have inspired MEPC to study a range of ideas for encouraging social interaction, including coffee hubs. Other possibilities include urban gardens, beehives, a putting green, public wi-fi coverage throughout the estate and outside seating areas.

“Customer feedback is so important for how MEPC shapes its business. Our occupiers have told us they want more services and amenities which we will find ways to deliver,” says Grant Edmondson, managing director of MEPC Hillington Park.

“We will encourage community feeling in a wide variety of other ways that we will roll out over the coming months. And we would welcome any suggestions and ideas from Hillington people on how we can achieve these objectives.”

Watch this space for more developments. Contact: 0141 883 5760