Investments see market success for MGB Plastics

Standing for ‘Made in Great Britain’, MGB Plastics is making a strong statement with continued investments in its UK infrastructure for the manufacture and supply of bins and containers. This includes an extensive upgrade programme at its Rotherham and Hull based facilities, including the recent installation of another new £2 million injection moulding machine cell.

A large storage area helps keep bin availability high at MGB in Rotherham

This commitment to high quality UK manufacturing and product innovation comes at a time when, despite austerity in many local authority budgets, councils across the country are still rolling out new waste collection schemes or are looking for ongoing top-up supplies of plastic waste and recycling containers for residents.

MGB is part of a much wider plastics family, forming part of the Irish-owned business, One51 plc. As a major player in the global rigid plastics market, One51 manufactures packaging, environmental containers and industrial products, explaining the close relationship MGB has with UK councils in the supply of plastic bins and boxes for waste and recycling.

Waste container and wheeled bin supply comes under the ‘OnePlastics’ branch of the parent company. The environmental containers division not only includes MGB but also Straight Ltd, (an acquisition by One51 in May 2014), a manufacturer of boxes, caddies, and other products to promote recycling and household waste reduction, including composting bins.

Heading up the Environmental Containers division is Ross Schofield, who recognises the positive impact One51 has had on the growth of MGB. The Rotherham-based business, which considers that it currently produces more wheeled bins than any other UK company, is not only able to draw upon the shared expertise and resources of the wider plastics group, but has itself received over £15 million in investment in new machines and product designs.

Contract successes

Taking these recent investments into consideration, Mr Schofield considers the company to be the only British manufacturer of its type, pointing to a number of contract successes over the past 12 months. This has included significant projects with Manchester, Aberdeen, and East Ayrshire councils, with the latter ordering 60,000 units of the innovative waste collection solution; the Triple Stack System, which has been manufactured and developed by Straight Ltd.

Bins ordered by Aberdeen City Council with a ‘gold’ logo

Reflecting on recent changes at One51, Mr Schofield explains that a restructuring of the business has seen rationalisation including the sale of metals and hazardous waste businesses. “The company has decided to be more plastics focused and we have seen significant acquisitions, including IPL in Canada and the US and Straight in the UK, with our eyes always looking for more.’’

Mr Schofield continues: “Our strategic vision is to become a leading global player in rigid plastic packaging and we are developing this through the distinct revenue streams of packaging, industrial products and environmental containers. MGB and Straight are unique in that we have a full UK made product range to meet all possible demands from local authorities, with containers produced ranging in size from five litres up to 1100 litres.”

Lead times

Having its main production facility rejuvenated in Rotherham, is a crucial part of the business’s recent successes, explains Mr Schofield, as it allows it to offer customers “world class products, lead times and flexibility”. Over the last 24 months, 90% of local authorities have purchased at least one product from MGB/Straight’s plastic waste container product range, says the company. This is alongside working closely with waste contractors including, Amey, Biffa, Serco, and Veolia.

Part of the production process which has seen significant investment

The packaging & industrial sides of the business also serve famous brand names including, Azko Nobel (Dulux), Royal Mail, Ronseal, Kraft and overseas to businesses such as pallet giant Chep.

With six sites operational across the UK and Ireland, including the state of the art facility in Rotherham, MGB has the capacity to manufacture more than 2 million wheeled bins every year. Yet the business does not end with the supply of wheeled bins, boxes, and caddies, but also encompasses a dedicated household distribution team, enabling the provision of a reliable and fully managed delivery service for wheeled bins, boxes and caddies..

The group boasts more than 130 production machines, with 13 of the larger size injection moulding machines located in Rotherham, which focus on the recycling and waste side of the business. Further scale is provided by multiple machine parks located in Hulland at two sites in Tamworth.

Footprint

Producing containers for the UK waste and recycling market means the company can offer “best quality, very cost effective and provide a lower carbon footprint”, says Jonathan Wragg, project sales manager. “We brand ourselves as the only 100% British manufacturer in the UK; we are putting the jobs and money back into the UK economy.”

MGB is also proud of its green credentials, actively encouraging the use of re-engineered recyclate plastic within the make-up of its bins. Last year saw OnePlastics use more than 22,000 tonnes of recyclable material, which was either bought in from UK re-compounders or derived from its own production scrap.

Ironically, there have been individuals within the UK waste management sector, including local authorities, who had reservations regarding recycled materials. But Mr Wragg says that the “vast majority, 75% – 85%, now love and accept recycled material; it just makes so much sense to what the industry & circular economy is trying to achieve!

MGB says it lays great emphasis on quality testing

“In the past,” he remarks, “reservations existed on a difference in quality across much of the plastics sectors including multiple industries such as packaging, automotive plastics and containers. Today, however, the technology of the polymer and design of products has moved on significantly, and we can say that our products are definitely of an equal standard.

“Multiple industries such as the UK waste management and automotive industries now consume multiple thousands of tonnes of recycled plastic every year and must move with the times to develop sustainable solutions.”

Recycled

From the technical side, Operations Manager David Hallgate, says that recycled or recompounded material is perfectly acceptable and is tested in exactly the same way as other materials. “We want consistency on the machines and we use new formulation re-engineered compounded material and know that it provides a stable process and quality output.”

Mr Wragg added that the local authority market is one that needs to be listened to as valuable feedback can be obtained and will allow the business to continually meet individual customer demands in respect of sizes, colours, logos, and delivery timescales. The latter is supported by the large storage area at their Rotherham site, enabling customer orders to be held before a local authority service change or stock replenishment commences.

Explaining the production process in further detail, Mr Hallgate says that the MGB suite of wheeled bin machines can make a bin, (including lids), in under a minute. The feedstock granules are stored in silos with pipes feeding the granules to loading hoppers for melting, creating the containers which are formed through plastic injection under huge clamping force.

He notes that all the primary machines are brand new so provide world class efficiency, lower energy usage and more efficient cooling. Latest investments have seen the installation of a further £1.6 million 2,700 tonne pressure moulder with a faster cycle.

Testing

“We look forward to continuing to sell to our existing customers and to new ones”

Ross Schofield
MGB

A total of 75 people work at the Rotherham site, covering a range of disciplines, including extensive quality testing. Mr Schofield points out that the quality team test every single batch of bins on a daily basis, which includes testing to EN840 and German RAL standards for lifting, tilting, and kerb travel.

He states: “We’re keen to create our own standard of UK quality – the European and German RAL standard tests are less frequent than ours and we also do additional simulated tests, such as UK bin lifting for lorries and axle tests. If we find an issue we will take immediate remedial action.”

Demand

Looking ahead, he expects demand to remain firm as the need to better handle and recycle waste and recycling streams increases. “We take pride in orders such as the 180,000 bins we supplied to Manchester and our latest order of boxes and caddies for the South London Waste Partnership.

“We look forward to continuing to sell to our existing customers and to new ones, promoting quality, the circular economy and UK-made value for money at all times.”