Emily Almond, Author at DCW Polymers Ltd

Plymouth Law firm sets New Benchmark in Sustainability

Latest News / By Emily Almond / 08/05/2024

GA Solicitors, a regional law firm headquartered in Plymouth, is taking recycling to a whole new level after having 80 of its plastic bins transformed into a weatherproof picnic bench to donate to a local nursery.

As part of a drive to increase staff recycling, individual waste bins were removed from under the desks of more than 80 staff. With the support of waste management experts, DCW Polymers Ltd, the 200-year-old law firm was able to have all of these recycled to make a piece of weatherproof and durable furniture.

The newly formed picnic bench is to be donated to Little Stars Nursery in Stonehouse, which was agreed upon through GA Solicitors’ partnership with Plymouth charity, Promoting Children in Plymouth (PCiP). This partnership has been in place for some 18 months, with GA Solicitors handing over a cheque worth £4,300 to PCiP in January.

This is not the first time GA Solicitors has provided support to Little Stars Nursery, having previously been involved in PCiP’s reading initiative, Tiny Tales, which aimed to foster enhanced reading skills among children in the city.

Kerry Bidewell, development manager at PCIP, commented “This is a fantastic story which we can all follow full cycle, from simple bins in a law firm to a fantastic and useful bench which will be used by children in an educational setting every day.

“This was a brilliant idea by GA Solicitors and shows what businesses can do when they think outside of the box. Not only have they saved a lot of plastic going to landfill, but they have also supported their local community and continued their relationship with PCiP.”

David Wallis, managing partner of GA Solicitors added: “At GA Solicitors we have been working hard to not only reduce our carbon footprint, but also have a positive impact on the local and wider community. We have planted more than 1400 trees worldwide, supported local pollinators through our partnership with Pollenize, and also updated all of our policies to be as eco-friendly as possible. When it came to removing so many plastic bins, we knew we couldn’t just discard them. DCW Polymers Ltd is a fantastic company and we could not have done this without them.

“We hope all the children and staff at Little Stars can make full use of the picnic bench and that it opens up their outdoor space for more activities and fun.”

This latest initiative by GA Solicitors follows a £4,300 donation to PCiP in January after finishing its time as the firm’s charity of the year. Full details can be found here.

GA Solicitors in Plymouth has selected Children’s Hospice Southwest as its charity of the year for 2024. You can find out more about them here: https://www.chsw.org.uk/

ENDS

27/02/2024

Notes to Editors

GA Solicitors can trace its roots back more than 200 years and has been advising the people and business in the South West for its duration. Originally based in Devonport, the firm gets its initials from Thomas Husband Gill who joined the practice in 1875 and later went into partnership with Albert E. Akaster.

Now one of the region’s leading law firms, the 93-strong team at the Lexcel-accredited LLP, has offices in both Plymouth and Bath. It is ranked in The Legal 500, Chambers UK and Chambers High Net Worth and is structured around eight practice areas, each comprising its own specialist department:

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South West recycling firm’s sustainable furniture heads to the Lake District

News / By Emily Almond / 11/12/2023

An Exeter based specialist plastics recycling and reprocessing plant has supplied 43 maintenance free sustainable benches to four of the National Trust’s Lake District camping sites. Made from 100% recycled waste plastic collected from UK businesses, DCW Polymers’ skilled joiners handmade the bespoke picnic benches.

Searching for a sustainable solution to outdoor furniture, the National Trust first approached DCW Polymers in late 2022 after hearing of the firm’s popular outdoor products range that gives plastic waste a new lease of life. The National Trust Holidays team in the Lake District chose the picnic bench from the catalogue of DCW products as suitable outdoor furniture for its campsites.

With a strong circular economy ethos, DCW Polymers’ recycled plastic furniture range aligns with the National Trust’s existing activities to reduce plastic waste. These include, offering visitors free drinking water which reduces waste from disposable water bottles, and promoting the use of reusable cups by giving visitors 25p off a hot drink when they bring their own cup.

Steph Hill, Head of Operational Delivery – Holidays Outdoors at the National Trust commented: “We’re pleased to have found a sustainable alternative to timber picnic benches at our Lake District campsites. Benches at our sites are popular with visitors who seek to enjoy our beautiful outdoor spaces, so it’s necessary for the Trust to source long-lasting benches that don’t require regular maintenance or replacement, such as traditional timber options.

“Choosing sustainable products is part of our core strategy to help fight against climate change, reduce carbon footprint and waste and help protect our environment.”

DCW Great Langdale national trust — DCW Polymers benches at Great Langdale National Trust site

DCW Polymers’ plastic furniture is maintenance-free and long-lasting. Completely weatherproof, the benches will not rot, splinter, or corrode or ever require painting or treating. Robust and hard-wearing, the furniture is well-suited to outdoor settings and is not easily vandalised.

The range, which also includes fencing, decking, dog agility and children’s play equipment, is all part of DCW Polymers’ mission towards a more circular economy. The process recycles waste plastic into new items, saving valuable resources and energy, keeping plastic waste away from landfill and protecting our fragile ecosystem. It also reduces the need for virgin plastic raw material to be made.

Simon Almond, Managing Director of DCW Polymers, commented: “We were delighted when the National Trust Holidays team approached us to handmake 43 picnic benches for its Lake District campsites. The team have worked extremely hard over the last few years to refine the manufacturing process, and many investments have been made to ensure a high-quality, attractive and durable product is produced from plastic waste.”

Simon continued: “Our plastic alternatives come with a 25-year guarantee and more importantly, keep plastic waste away from landfill.”

To find out more about DCW Polymers’ recycled outdoor products range, visit www.dcwpolymers.co.uk.

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‘Tis The Season to Recycle & Raise®!

News / By Emily Almond / 04/12/2023

Recycle & Raise® brought to you by DCW Polymers Ltd is back and better than ever for the 5th year! This year, it’s even more exciting as there’s the chance to win a free recycled plastic park bench worth over £400 for the organisation that collects the most tubs as a registered drop-off point!

Each tub is worth around 20p for the charities, so the more tubs we recycle, the more money the charities can receive. Please save your clean and empty plastic sweet tub and donate them to your nearest drop-off point by 15th February 2024! It’s not just sweets and chocolates tubs DCW Polymers is asking for either. Ice cream, biscuit and cracker tubs, milk bottle tops and takeaway containers can all be recycled as part of the Recycle & Raise campaign.

More drop-off locations will be available over the next few weeks but you can find your nearest drop-off location by viewing the interactive map on the website www.dcwpolymers.co.uk/recycle-raise. If your business, school or organisation would like to sign up as a drop-off point and be in with a chance of winning a Falmouth park bench, please email [email protected].

In February, we will weigh the tubs as we collect from each of our drop-off points. The drop-off point with the most tubs donated will win a free Falmouth Park Bench from the DCW Polymers sustainable furniture range!

The plastics that are donated to Recycle & Raise will be sent to the DCW Polymers’ recycling plant in Exeter, where they will be shredded into granules. The granules will then be used in manufacturing DCW Polymers’ recycled plastic furniture range, where 100% of the profits from the donated plastics will be donated to Dartmoor Zoological Society and Life Chance Trust. All plastic donations collected will be split 50/50 between the two charities.

Dartmoor Zoo is set in 33-acres of beautiful woodland just outside of Plymouth and undertakes vital conservation work to protect a variety of species. Life Chance Trust is an award-winning organisation based in Newton Abbot that provides young people who have experienced trauma with mentoring and life skills training to help them on the pathway to employment.

Since its launch in 2019, Recycle & Raise has raised over £14,000 for charity with DCW Polymers collecting over 7 tonnes of tubs!

DCW Polymers Business Support Manager, Emily Almond, said: “We are so pleased to be launching Recycle & Raise for the 5th year and are so excited to launch the competition alongside it. We have some amazing people involved who fill their homes with these tubs every year to help the charities with us, so it’s amazing to be able to give back to them by allowing them the chance to win a free bench too!

“We are so proud to have raised over £14,000 since we launched Recycle & Raise and hope that with the support from the public, we can raise even more this year. Please spread the word and save us your clean, empty tubs and tops and help us Recycle plastic and Raise money for charity.”

Empty and clean donations need to be taken to drop-off locations by Thursday 15th February 2024. If your business, school or organisation would like to become a drop-off point, please email [email protected] with your address and consent to be added to the map!

‘Tis The Season to Recycle & Raise®! Read More »

Silverstone MotoGP boosts net-zero efforts with the help of DCW Polymers

Blog / By Emily Almond / 14/11/2023

Silverstone & DCW Polymers – Strength in Sustainability

Silverstone’s MotoGP – one of the biggest events in the British motorcycling calendar – enlisted the help of South West based recycled plastic furniture manufacturer DCW Polymers this year in a bid to become more sustainable.

Committed to becoming a leading sustainable business and leisure destination through its Net Zero 2030 project; Northampton-based Silverstone were keen to partner with DCW Polymers* who manufacture durable, long-lasting furniture products made from 100% recycled plastic.

As part of its net zero pledge, Silverstone are committing to a ten-year venue and facility investment strategy that puts sustainability at the centre of operations. This includes finding sustainable alternatives to event facilities whilst maintaining its high standards and quality guest experience. DCW Polymers’ event hire benches are the perfect solution.

Working Together for a Sustainable Future

Working closely with DCW Polymers, Silverstone selected a range of furniture items to subtly create sociable sections within the Lego Family Zone in Hall One, maximising the space available. Silverstone hired 21 Plymouth picnic benches for the food zone, 6 Exeter Dining Sets for the bar area, and 15 Salcombe modular sofa units to create a comfortable environment for event-goers to relax in the coffee lounge. This zone offered a public food hall for all ticket holders to enjoy hot food, a bar, coffee lounge and Lego activities upstairs.

A further nine Plymouth benches were set up outside Hall One, giving attendees a great view of the pitlane exit so that they could watch their favourite riders re-join the circuit.

Creating a closed-loop system for plastic waste

By handmaking its furniture out of plastic waste collected from UK businesses, DCW Polymers has a completely closed-loop system for plastic waste in the UK. The Plymouth bench alone contains over 115kg of plastic. That’s the equivalent of over 1,000 plastic sweet tubs!

A smart, sustainable alternative to timber furniture, DCW Polymers’ benches are longer-lasting, more durable, and resistant to damage and vandalism. The furniture is completely weatherproof. As the items are heavy, they cannot be easily moved, maintaining the aesthetic of the event space. The benches at this year’s MotoGP looked as good on day three as they did on day one! They will go on to see many more events to come!

By choosing DCW Polymers’ sustainable furniture range, Silverstone is supporting the circular economy. The innovative manufacturing process recycles waste plastic into new items, saving valuable energy. It also reduces the need for tree felling!

A sustainable furniture solution for your next event

Many of the businesses DCW Polymers work with choose to hire furniture products for events, saving storage space. The event hire option is perfect for those who need stylish, sustainable furniture solutions temporarily.

Our experts at can work with event organisers to provide a bespoke solution for any space. We can encourage high footfall with attendees staying at an event for longer thanks to the provision of comfortable furniture.

All of DCW Polymers’ products come with a 25-year guarantee! Therefore, this is ensuring that hundreds of events can hire the same benches in their lifetime. This provides a more sustainable solution than less durable, timber alternatives that can be subject to damage, and vandalism.

If you are keen to hire our furniture for your next event, please contact the team! Call us on 01392 535353 or email [email protected]

*For MotoGP, DCW Polymers sponsored the furniture items and took no payment from Silverstone

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DCW Polymers raises over £3,000 for local charities through popular Recycle & Raise scheme

News / By Emily Almond / 25/09/2023

DCW Polymers, the South West’s only specialist plastics recycling and reprocessing plant, has raised £3,101.68 for local charities by recycling plastic tubs and bottle tops donated by the general public.

The funds, which have been split equally between Dartmoor Zoological Society and Life Chance Trust, were raised through DCW Polymers’ Recycle & Raise initiative. The appeal asked the general public to donate plastic tubs and bottle tops for recycling which DCW Polymers has shredded into granules.

The granules have been used in the manufacturing of DCW’s recycled plastic furniture range which has raised £1,550.84 each for Dartmoor Zoo and Life Chance Trust.

An incredible 158 businesses, schools and organisations across the South West volunteered as collection points for the tubs, bottle tops and takeaway containers, with a total of 1,643kg of tubs and 487kg of bottle tops donated in a bid to support the charities.

Hosted by DCW Polymers annually since 2019, the Recycle & Raise appeal has raised over £13,000 for charitable causes.

Simon Almond, Managing Director of DCW, said: “This might have been our fourth year of running our Recycle & Raise campaign, but the enthusiasm from the public never fails to make us smile. It’s fantastic that so many are willing to do what they can to help year after year. What better way to recycle plastics than by donating them to DCW and raising vital funds for local charities.

“These are two charities that do incredible work in the local community. Dartmoor Zoo are specialists in education and conservation of animals, while also supporting local people. The team at Life Chance Trust in Newton Abbot are working hard to help young people who have experienced trauma with mentoring and life skills training.

“I’d like to thank everyone who has donated to the scheme and the businesses who volunteered to act as drop-off points as without you, we couldn’t have raised these funds. Recycle & Raise will be back towards the end of 2023, and we hope to raise even more funds next year.”

Thanks to the enthusiasm of the public and the success of the appeal, DCW Polymers is now collecting plastic tubs and bottle tops all year round. The plastic donated throughout the year will be weighed and totalled in February 2024 along with the donations from the annual scheme.

Clean plastic tubs and bottle tops can be taken to the Recycle & Raise drop-off point outside Princesshay’s Bee Hive Information Centre, The Hive, located in Bampfylde Lane in Exeter. In addition, clean plastic tubs and bottle tops can be taken to DCW Polymers in Exeter.

For those who cannot easily access the permanent drop-off points, the Recycle & Raise seasonal appeal for plastic tubs and bottle tops will return in October 2023 and will run until February 2024. DCW Polymers encourages businesses from across Devon, Cornwall, and Somerset to sign-up, creating plenty of accessible drop-off points across the region. If your business would like to sign up as a drop-off point to help raise funds for DCW Polymers’ chosen charities, please email [email protected]

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