Member Article

Teesside recycling company J&B secures £7.5 million investment

Teesside-based J&B Recycling has received an investment of £7.5million from independent investment firm Business Growth Fund (BGF).

This is a first investment in Teesside for BGF, which has a regional investment team based in Leeds.

It follows an £8 million investment previously made into Durham-based community pubs estate, Wear Inns.

Operating from two recycling facilities in Hartlepool and a waste transfer station in Middlesbrough, J&B Recycling provides waste collection, recovery and recycling services to both public and private sector organisations throughout the North East.

J&B Recycling diverts waste away from landfill by increasing the levels and types that can be recycled and reduces the cost of waste removal for its customers.

The company was also the first in the Tees Valley to set up a plastic bottle bank scheme and among the first to offer co-mingled recyclable collections for commercial customers.

The company is run by female entrepreneur Vikki Jackson-Smith, who established the recycling business in 2000 to diversify from the Solid Fuel Business that her father Alan Jackson had originally established in the 1970’s.

Since then, the business has grown to an annual turnover of c. £10 million and employs 175 people.

Vikki Jackson-Smith, Managing Director of J & B Recycling, said: “I am delighted J&B has secured a significant investment from BGF to help execute our very exciting growth plans.

“Together with our advisers, Cavu Corporate Finance, we reviewed the UK development capital market for investment and I was delighted with the substantial interest that our plans created amongst the funding community.

“We believe BGF will be the ideal partner for us – they take a long term view, are experienced investors in family businesses and the chemistry felt right from the very first meeting.

“It is great to have them on board and the whole management team are now looking forward to working with BGF to take our investment plans forward and make J&B a very significant national player in the waste recycling sector.

“J & B has always viewed itself as an innovator within the industry, from our early days of recycling glass bottles to the development of our state-of-the-art materials recycling facility. This investment will further enhance our reputation as we look to collect, recover and recycle more and more waste to put to new uses.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ellen Forster .