23rd December 2009UK Steel Enterprise is friend to the environment
UK Steel Enterprise is behind a Tees Valley company that is diversifying to meet the heavy demand for environmentally-friendly products and already has its sights set on winning a 2012 Olympic contract.
Chris Burton and Peter Carr have set up EnPlus Solutions as a sister company to their successful Duraflex Agency Ltd that already supplies eco-friendly raw materials, including a synthetic paper produced from rock, across Europe.
EnPlus Solutions is now providing a range of recyclable and compostable products to replace plastic that includes cups, lids, bags, wrapping and cutlery. Not only has UKSE supported the original company with a finance package and premises at Hartlepool, but the eco-friendly cups are now in use at both UKSE Innovation Centres in Tees Valley. The Directors are now hoping to secure a second UKSE investment to help them meet demand and add a further three jobs to their five-strong team.
“Between us we have years of experience in the packaging industry,” said Chris Burton. “We were drawn down the environmental route with our raw materials range and realised the potential of moving into providing finished products ourselves.
“Currently the UK produces 2.8m tonnes of plastic waste annually and the figure is rising by 2% each year. Cups and bags may seem like small items but if every large organisation used our environmentally versatile items it would make a huge difference. Our aim is to provide products of the highest quality, 100% environmentally friendly and at a competitive price so that the cost cannot be a bar to going green.
“The benefits of our products against others in the marketplace are that they are fully recyclable without any contamination to the recycling stream. They will compost or degrade when in contact with oxygen over a finite period and most items will even degrade in seawater.
“UKSE helped us originally when we were struggling to find both finance and accommodation “says Chris Burton. “A £50,000 investment and office and distribution space in their Innovation Centre at Hartlepool came at a crucial time for us and we are now hoping to secure a second investment to take us on to the next stage.” Simon Hamilton, UKSE Regional Manager, said: “The company has spotted an ideal opportunity to diversify and has asked us to help finance the move. The range of products is helping to meet the current environmental concerns and the company has a strong management team to take it forward successfully.” | 
