Leeds Paper Recycling adds Boughton-equipped vehicles to its fleet
When Michael Todd bought his first truck in 1990, to start Leeds Paper Recycling – a business collecting paper, cardboard and metal for onward sale to merchants, he sowed the seeds of a successful and still family run business which confidently expects to grow to a turnover of £20 million in the next two years. It has just spent £3 million upgrading its MRF on the southeast side of Leeds, which already handles around 500,000 tons of materials per year – and added Boughton-equipped vehicles to its fleet.
Whilst LPR has always operated some of its own vehicles, about half of its current fleet is based on contract hire. “One advantage for us of running a part contract hire fleet is the opportunity to benchmark and compare performance and reliability of different equipment – before we decide what to buy for our own in-house fleet. On that basis, we have now bought a Boughton-equipped hook-loader unit with their KwikCova auto-sheet unit, based on a 6x2 Volvo chassis with rear steer – and we have two more 8x4 vehicles and a close coupled trailer on order. Quite simply, we know they stand up to the job,” says LPR Managing Director, Jamie Todd.
Moving material inwards and outwards is a significant logistics challenge too. The company operates a mainly rigid fleet of around eighty vehicles, most of which operate well within a fifty mile radius, in line with the company’s commitment to reduce ‘waste miles’. Its two tractor units, which operate with high capacity bulk trailers, run slightly further afield to supply material for Waste to
Today, founding father, Michael, is still actively involved and eldest son, Jamie Todd, is the Managing Director, supported by brothers Sam and Thomas – and daughter Gemma who looks after marketing and community initiatives.
The sweet smell of waste and success has not all come easy – with the business having had its fair share of challenges over the years, including arson attacks. But having recovered quickly and then successively outgrown each of its previous premises, it moved to its current site in 2007. It was the first waste and recycling operation in Yorkshire to go co-mingled and the present site also enables the company to operate shift systems to manage optimum through-put. It will shortly install a new, state-of-the-art baling system.
“The whole of our family, including my father who founded it, have a mindset commitment towards diverting all waste from landfill, whilst channelling separated materials for re-use within a minimum radius of its MRF origin. Here at our Leeds site, we have the capability to do that,” says Jamie Todd. “We work very closely with our customers and local authority partners to manage their waste streams whilst also encouraging recycling through interactive programmes and other initiatives. We have activities running with over 100 schools, colleges and universities in the area.”
Where next for LPR? “Standing still is never an option”, says Jamie, “and if we had the opportunity to expand eastwards towards Humberside – or become more involved in the energy side of the business, we would think about that very seriously.”
