TJ lend a helping hand to ocean health CIC

TJ has waded in to help local non-profit Community Interest Company (CIC) The Final Straw Solent, whose work revolves around highlighting the impact of plastic pollution on our environment, local seas and wider oceans.

This is something that TJ feel strongly about and support in any way they can. The Final Straw Solent has a big metal fish structure – called Nellie – that acts as a recycling bin for plastic bottles and is positioned in various places around the county, usually to encourage recycling during events. Nellie was recently in Winchester city centre and full of waste, but the company were struggling to get it emptied.

So they contacted TJ Waste for assistance, who were keen to help and happy to do so at no charge. TJ’s van driver Phil went along to empty Nellie and ended up climbing inside to get all the waste out! He collected it all and transferred it to his van and took it back to one of TJ’s materials recovery facilities where it was sorted into categories and recycled accordingly.

TJ’s actions made it possible for Nellie to be transported to her next location, providing valuable recycling facilities for another community / event.

The Final Straw Solent were established in Emsworth in 2018. They started as a group of volunteers giving their time to help clean up local community spaces and, in time, the surrounding areas. They originally focussed on encouraging businesses to cut back on the amount of disposable, pointless plastic they used as well as running beach cleans and talking to local communities in the Solent area.

The company has really grown since its inception and they now work with many different types of business on sustainability and helping them find ethical and sustainable alternatives to single-use plastic in their activities. They have a busy school outreach programme and have reached thousands of children in the Solent area through assemblies and workshops. They also work with community groups, giving talks and running activities and encouraging people to avoid single-use plastic and how to best dispose of it if they do need to use it.

Lissie Pollard from the Final Straw Solent was thrilled that TJ Waste pulled out the stops to help.

“Since June, we estimate that Nellie has collected around 16,000 plastic bottles for recycling. She has visited 14 locations to date and all the logistics have worked smoothly until she visited Winchester, where we found it really difficult to find someone to help empty her. We called the team at TJ Waste because they have helped us before on beach cleans and they got it all sorted within 24 hours. We are so grateful that they made the process so easy and helped us for no charge – we cannot thank them enough!”

TJ has recently started working in partnership with another local company who are making it possible for them to divert plastic ice cream tubs from landfill and direct them into the recycling process.

Jude’s Ice Cream are one of TJ’s clients. TJ carries out weekly loose recycling collections from Jude’s dairy in Twyford, Winchester, where they produce the ice cream. TJ has recently established a new recycling process for certain types of plastics and realised that Jude’s unwanted plastic ice cream tubs and offcuts would be ideal for it.

Jude’s confirmed that they were happy for their plastics to be recycled and instructed TJ to organise this for them. When the plastic ice cream tubs are recycled, they are made into a new product – pellets – which will then be moulded into new plastic products.

The latest equipment for recycling plastic materials is used in this recycling process to ensure that the highest quality products are maintained.

Find out more about TJ’s CSR activities and their work to facilitate plastic recycling and the services they offer.