CASE STUDY: AO Recycling - Powerful example of the circular economy

1st December 2022

AO Recycling in Telford is at forefront of efforts to reduce the environmental impact of discarded white goods. It recently recycled its five millionth appliance and is helping to bring waste plastic back into use.

---

Being able to demonstrate environmental responsibility has become a key priority for businesses in recent years, but few make it as tangible as online retailer AO.

Since opening its AO Recycling base at Halesfield Business Park in 2017, the facility has become a powerful example of the circular economy in action.

It recycles or reuses more than one million white goods and other appliances every year and processes almost 3,000 tonnes of packaging – equivalent to 100 full box trailers a week.

The company took things a step further in 2019 by investing £7m in a plastics recycling plant at nearby Stafford Park, the only one of its kind in Europe, which enables it to take waste material and turn it into high quality plastic to be used in new products.

The ultimate goal is to supply the raw materials for brand new fridges and freezers which are then sold by AO.

Despite the state-of-the-art recycling facilities, explains Dave Ware, director of commercial (recycling) at AO, the one thing that grabs the attention of visiting VIPs more than anything else is AO’s reuse operation. Around 50,000 appliances are sold every year after being inspected, refurbished and tested by a dedicated team.

He believes Telford provides an ideal base for a number of reasons.

Firstly, great connectivity and proximity to AO’s logistics network make it a good fit for the operation and Telford has the skilled workers it needs.

Secondly, there’s the local supply chain.

‘We are quite demanding because we’re running 24/7 and if there’s a problem on a Sunday afternoon then we have to deal with it. There’s a whole ecosystem of businesses here to support us locally and that’s hugely helpful.’

When AO entered the world of plastics recycling it soon discovered it was in the perfect location.

‘We were new to plastics research and development and realised two doors down is the Polymer Training and Innovation Centre, one of the UK’s centres of excellence. There’s so much shared knowledge here and Telford has a huge number of plastics businesses.’

Finally, the support from Invest Telford, Telford & Wrekin Council and its partners has helped the business to settle and thrive, he says.

‘When we have been putting in planning applications and developing what we’re doing, they have always been very helpful and supportive. They are a can-do council. I have worked in other businesses in other parts of the country where the council seems like a blocker. Here they recognise we are an employer who adds value to the community and show that they really want to help.’