300 new jobs from recycling

Think3E hopes its site in Calder Bank Mills will employ hundreds of jobseekers, particularly the long-term unemployed, ex-prisoners and others who might find it hard to get work.

It is preparing to invest £250,000 in a plastics recycling centre which is due to open next month.

It has also been awarded £100,000 towards equipment and rental costs through Kirklees Council’s Dewsbury Neighbourhood Programme to help it get off the ground.

Kirklees cabinet member Coun Shabir Pandor said: “The proposal from Think3E will be a good thing for Dewsbury and will help provide real opportunities to gain employment skills for some of those who need them most.”

If successful, it will also help meet council goals to regenerate the town and divert more waste from landfill.

Think3E already employs 215 full-time and 1,000 part-time staff across its sites in Doncaster and Liverpool.

As a social enterprise, it reinvests profits to meet social goals like tackling unemployment instead of paying money to shareholders or directors.

It has helped 3,000 long term jobseekers into work and 35 small businesses get off the ground. Its Scout Hill site will have facilities for waste reduction, re-use and re-manufacture.

The business expects to be employing 300 people and diverting 100 tonnes of plastics from landfill every month within eight months of opening.

A second phase could see an ‘urban eco park’ with other recycling and environmental firms developed around Think3E’s site allowing them to share customer links and supply of goods and services.

A council spokesman said vacancies would be filled through Jobcentre Plus, the internet, local employment initiatives and recruitment days, including community visits by the Think3E mobile centre.