Casepak founder dies aged 77

Chairman and founder of recycling company Casepak, George Smith, passed away on September 23 at the age of 77 at his home in Leicestershire.

Described as a great family man, Mr Smith who set up the company in 1973 leaves behind eight children, including his two sons and Casepak joint managing directors, Mark and Martin Smith.

Georges six daughters Maxine Woolley, Corinne Mahon, Tracey Scoular, Georgina Cullen, Arlene Jordan and Elaine Evans also all work at the company, which is based in Enderby, Leicester.

Casepak opened a 12 million, 150,000 tonnes-per-year capacity materials recycling facility (MRF) in Leicester in September 2011, which the firm said was the first in the UK to incorporate a screen to recognise a separate compacted plastic and metal food packaging (see letsrecycle.com story).

The Leicester MRF was later officially opened by then-recycling minister Lord Taylor of Holbeach in 2012, when George was presented with a commemorative plaque. That same year, Casepak was named Leicester Business of the Year.

Entrepreneur

Born George Albert Edward Smith in 1936 in Leicester, he joined the navy before leaving at age 19 to work in a local grocery store. Described as one of lifes true entrepreneurs, George acquired the Corn Exchange in the early 1960s after realising there was no bingo hall in Leicester, soon gaining the nickname Bingo George, which stayed with him for the rest of his life.

George later joined Vinaflex in Leicester initially making soles for shoes before quickly becoming manager. Vinaflex used a lot of very expensive cartons, and in a bid to reduce costs George started buying second-hand cartons. After speaking to other companies he realised he had found a niche in the market and in 1972 he launched second-hand carton business Casepak, which initially employed seven people.

As business grew, George identified another niche by selling his unusable cartons for recycling. He quickly realised that recycling was the way forward and he expanded his business by winning contracts across the Midlands with box makers, printers and news houses.

In 1997 Casepak moved to its current purpose-built site in Enderby, processing 144,000 tonnes of dry recyclable material every year and employing 200 people. The company says it aims to recover 97.5% of material for re-use.

Georges funeral is being held at 2.45pm on Friday 4th October at Leicester Cathedral (St Martins), and afterwards at The Keith Weller Suite at Leicester City Football Club.