In what the firm has branded a boost for local employment, the six employees, who work on behalf of an agency, will be deployed at Shanks’ upcoming waste treatment facility in South Kirkby.
The facility is part of a £750 million PFI contract between Shanks and Wakefield council to treat municipal waste from households in the region over the next 25 years (see letsrecycle.com story).
The new staff members have been provided by on-site supplier ALS Managed Services working with social enterprise the de Poel Community, which helps find people ‘with barriers to work’ find sustainable employment.
De Poel Community’s national partnership with Job Centre Plus provides a link in the employment chain to find suitable candidates in the immediate area.
Training
The recruitment process saw candidates undertake pre-employment screening and training, facilitated by de Poel Community, with an ultimate aim to achieve a waste and recycling qualification.
For those who passed the screening process there followed a two day work trial at the Shanks plant, with a number of successful candidates securing full time positions.
Mike Walter, site manager of the South Kirkby facility, said six out of the first group of 11 candidates completed all elements of the training programme.
He said: “At Shanks, we are attracting members of the local community through our diverse and inclusive workforce model, we value and encourage this through our local recruitment process. Through our strategic partnership with de Poel Community, ALS and Job Centre Plus, we have already built on our talent attraction strategy and hope to strengthen our team through a number of local appointments in the coming weeks.”
Opportunities
Sarah Sanders, Diversity and Inclusion Manager of de Poel Community, added: “de Poel Community was founded on the ethos that everyone deserves the opportunity to work, and we are delighted to be working with Shanks, ALS Managed Services and Job Centre Plus in a common goal to create more employment opportunities for the local communities . We look forward to progressing our partnership in the months and years to come.”
Councillor Maureen Cummings, cabinet member for communities and environment at Wakefield Council, said: “I welcome this partnership which is giving people employment opportunities at this new state of the art facility which provides an essential service to residents and businesses in our District”.
The Wakefield facility, which will process around 230,000 tonnes of municipal waste per year, is soon to begin full operations. A trading update released by Shanks last year cited an ‘unavoidable’ four month delay in full service commencement of the facility due to the recent bankruptcy of a major supplier (see letsrecycle.com story).
[Updated 6/10/2015 to reflect that South Kirkby facility is not an EfW plant].
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