Coastal Recycling: A Look Back at an Incredible 2024

Discover Coastal Recycling’s 2024 highlights, including winning a prestigious award, developing our social value offering, and implementing innovative waste management advancements.

As we enter 2025, it’s the perfect time to reflect on our milestones and achievements we’ve experienced at Coastal Recycling. We accepted a whopping 204,971 tonnes of waste for processing – including 57,360 tonnes of green garden waste, we’ve booked on 41,925 jobs, received 38,240 phone calls. At the end of 2024 we now have 1825 clients around the southwest.

As well as collecting and processing thousands of tonnes of waste for recovery and recycling, 2024 has been a year of growth, innovation, and sustainability. Here’s a roundup of some of the key highlights from this year:

In May we were proud to be honoured with the prestigious North Devon Business of the Year award in 2024! This recognition is a testament to the dedication and hard work of our entire employee-owned team, and it reflects our commitment to providing sustainable waste management solutions across the region. Being named the best in the business community is a huge achievement for us, and we are excited to continue growing and serving our local community with excellence.

This year, we took great pride in giving back to the community by donating compost to several community garden projects. We donated to the Exeter Parklets project collaborating with InExeter. The parklets are small, green urban spaces designed to improve the local environment and provide a calming escape in the heart of the city. We also donated 28 tonnes of compost to Devon Dig and Donate, a community growing project with a mission to grow and provide fresh, healthy, nutritious produce for people experiencing food poverty. Supporting environmental initiatives like this is part of our ongoing effort to foster sustainability and enhance the spaces where we live and work.

On 20th September 2024, Coastal Recycling sponsored and participated in the Tarka Trail & Estuary Clean Up, an event hosted by Plastic Free North Devon (PFND). The clean-up effort brought together 100 volunteers from 12 local businesses and organisations, all working towards a common goal of removing litter from the beautiful Tarka Trail.

Over the course of the day, volunteers collected an impressive 500 kilos of rubbish along the 10.6-mile stretch of the Tarka Trail. This event was not only an opportunity to help improve the local environment but also a powerful reminder of how much work remains to be done in tackling plastic pollution. At Coastal Recycling, we are proud to have played our part in this vital initiative to keep North Devon’s natural beauty pristine for future generations

2024 saw an exciting development for Coastal Recycling by investing in cutting-edge biotechnology solution for our site in Torrington. This new machinery from Advetec, will revolutionise the way we manage residual waste. Traditionally, such waste would either be sent to landfill or incinerated, but with this innovative technology, we will now be able to convert it into Solid Recovered Fuel (SRF).

SRF is a highly efficient, sustainable fuel that emits 95% less CO2e than coal and is already helping industries around the world reduce their reliance on fossil fuels. This technology not only supports our mission to reduce landfill waste but also provides a cleaner alternative to conventional energy sources. It’s a significant step forward in our commitment to sustainability, and we can’t wait to see the positive environmental impact this machine will have in the years to come.

We had the privilege of showcasing our work in action to over 1,500 schoolchildren at Farmwise Devon at West Point, where we shared our expertise on the composting process. These sessions were designed to inspire young minds to think about where their food comes from, their environmental impact and encourage them to take positive actions for the planet. We are proud to have been part of such an impactful event.

In 2024 some of our team volunteered for time away from their day job and a day of hard work and fresh air.

This year teams and clients have headed out with Till the Coast is Clear to collect plastic pollution from inaccessible shorelines and InFocus using our compost to develop their outdoor learning centre, a vital space for supporting people with visual impairment and complex needs.

The Coastal Way is our vision, guiding principles and fundamental beliefs that help us work together as a team and toward our common business goal. We launched our values and vision early in 2024 and we are working on actioning and and engaging with these values each and every day.

The Coastal Way can be found on our website: https://coastaluk.co.uk/about/the-coastal-way/ 

As we reflect on the successes and achievements of 2024, we are already excited about the opportunities that lie ahead in 2025. Our continued investment in technology, community, social value, and sustainability will ensure that Coastal Recycling remains at the forefront of the recycling and waste management industry in the southwest. We are committed to providing innovative waste solutions that not only meet regulatory requirements but also make a meaningful difference to the environment.

Thank you to all the employee-owned Coastal team, industry partners, and our loyal customers for their ongoing support. Here’s to a sustainable 2025 and beyond!