Archive NEWS

Totnes-based family business Recycle Together Limited is poised to make home composting big retail news after clinching deals with two major supermarkets.

Gordon and Lesley Anderson, together with their son Russell, have used a loan from Finance South West to move to bigger premises on the Halwell Business Park.

The deals mean their strong, water resistant yet bio-degradable paper compost bin liners, branded Alina, will be on sale nationally shortly.

Chris Burt, the Loan Fund Manager at Finance South West, says: “Recycle Together now has the capacity it needs to keep Tesco and Somerfield supplied throughout the UK. We liked the fact that Alina is entirely eco-friendly and are pleased to support a company that will promote the message that the South West is an innovative, yet green peninsula.”

Alina began as a home-made solution to the problem of how to store compostable material in a clean yet environmentally friendly container.

Lesley Anderson says:  “Our local council introduced a composting regime, meaning people had to store degradable waste for collection. They supplied us with bins to keep it in, but they’d quickly get very messy. My husband and I searched the market for a strong paper liner but it didn’t exist. Instead, we got a British company to design one made from a combination of sack and kraft papers. The result is Alina, which comes in several shapes and sizes and bears the European Certificate of Compostability. This means councils will allow them to be composted on communal sites because they break down without producing toxins.”
Recycle Together already supplies Asda, the Co-op, Spar, Budgens and Londis across the region and their products are currently being trialled by Waitrose.
Lesley Anderson adds: “Finance South West has enabled us to grow and we will hopefully reward the investment with further expansion. They are professionals who show enormous commitment to business in the region.”

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Dated xx/04/08
Notes to Editors
For further details contact Lesley Anderson at Recycle Together Ltd on: 01803 770681 or visit: www.recycletogether.co.uk.

Finance South West, which is part funded by the EU through the Objective Two Programme for the South West, is an £18 million investment fund targeting small and medium sized enterprises in this region with a range of equity, mezzanine and debt capital. Finance South West can provide commercial finance from £10,000 up to £1 million for buying, starting or growing a business in the Objective Two area of the South West. It has now invested close to £10 million in the region’s businesses, levering over £20.6 million into the South West economy.

The Finance South West Loan Fund has invested over £3.7 million in 73 small and medium-sized businesses, levering more than £6.5 million into the South West economy, safeguarding 160 jobs and creating 98. The Finance South West Growth Fund has invested a total of £6 million in 13 companies, levering over £15 million into the economy, creating or safeguarding 278 jobs.
The company also offers business planning services and mentoring through a network of qualified professionals and a panel of non-executive directors to help businesses achieve their goals.
Finance Cornwall Fund Managers Limited is an investment company authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority registered in England and Wales, number 05010380, registered address 14 High Cross, Truro, Cornwall, TR1 2AJ.

For further information visit: www.finacesouthwest.co.uk

PR contact:
Samantha McKay, PR Manager, Formedia (PR to Finance South West and Finance Cornwall) on: 01752 762120 / email: samantha@formedia.co.uk