Founded in Leeds by current Chief Executive, Jonathan Straight, the company has seen significant growth throughout the last two decades both organically and through a number of key acquisitions including, Blackwall ltd, Harcostar, Helesi UK and Powell Plastics.

The 20^th year of trading marks an important milestone for Straight.  Throughout the years, Straight has seen many changes within the industry and has also made major changes to its own business model.

Most recently Straight began manufacturing its own products.  The company now produces the majority of its products at its facility in Hull and leads the field in supplying inventive, high-quality waste and recycling containers to a broad range of customers throughout the UK and overseas.  Straight now employs over 100 people, carries one of the largest product portfolios in the industry and has developed into a £30 million brand.

Last year Straight undertook an extensive marketing research project, which led to a complete company rebrand.  The rebrand enabled Straight to commence its special year with a new look and feel, a new website and a new forward thinking strap line, “For Tomorrow’s World” which underpins the company’s ethos and reflects Straight’s capabilities and future-facing commitment to the environment.

Jonathan Straight, Chief Executive of Straight plc commented,

“We’re absolutely delighted to be celebrating the start of our 20^th year in business and we look forward to our anniversary next year.  Reaching this milestone is testament to all of our hard work, passion and drive.  We look forward to the next 20 years and a successful future.  We hope to continue to bring new and exciting waste and recycling solutions tailored to customer needs to market.”

Although April is living up to its name with non-stop showers, the rainfall we are experiencing will do little to ease the current drought conditions and will not replenish reservoir stocks, therefore, hosepipe bans are set to stay.

One way of easing the pressure on mains water supplies, is to fit a water butt.  Installing a water butt is one of the most cost effective and efficient methods of saving water, which will not only help to ensure that gardens stay watered, but will enable householders to carry out other tasks such as washing cars and windows.  Best of all, rainwater is free, so water butts can also help to save people money too.

With the average person in England and Wales using up to 150 litres of water per day (Environment Agency, 2012), the Government is urging people to reduce their water consumptionandhas asked them to be smarter about how they use water.

Seven water authorities across Southern and Eastern England have already imposed hosepipe bans in a bid to save water.  With water shortages set to continue into at least the autumn, the Environment Agency has said that more than half of England is now under drought conditions and has added seventeen new counties to the list, including most of the South West and the Midlands.

Jonathan Straight, Chief Executive of Straight plc said,

“Water is a precious resource which shouldn’t be wasted.  It is time for us all to start taking the issue of water conservation seriously.  Reducing our water consumption is more important than ever and with more hosepipe bans expected over the summer months, this is a problem which will get worse.  Installing a water butt is simple and easy.  It’s a small change, but can make a big difference.”

When the last Government raised the rate of Capital Gains Tax to 28% I was a very vocal critic.  The minmimal Entrepreneurs’ Relief that followed was a bit of a joke and I remember the Daily Telegraph quoting me at the time as saying, “Thank you Alastair, you’ve really made my day!”.

Fortunately, the Coalition Government saw sense and have raised the limit to a much more meaningful £10m threshold for the lower 10% band to apply, but to me there has always been a problem with this.  It is not just the owner of a business who makes it successful and the tax regime has to date only favoured business owners.

I felt that my dedicated staff who have share options should also be able to benefit from this reduced tax rate, but as things stood they would pay 28% and I would only pay 10%. Given that the amounts the high rate would apply to would be generally relatively smaller, this seemed very unfair.

Just after David Cameron came to power, he visited Leeds and I asked him about this issue.  He didn’t get it and just answered that he thought it was right people should pay tax.  I agree with him here, but what I don’t agree with is the imbalance and injustice of the two tax rates.

I had another crack at George Osborne in Manchester last September.  I am pleased to say that I got a bit further here with George acknowledging the problem and understanding it.  It looks like George has now done something about this, announcing in the Budget that all holders of EMI share options will qualify for Entrepreneurs’ Relief.

So George, thank you for listening!

PS. I think the cap on income tax reliefs is going to impact badly on charities, so George, if you are reading this, please exempt gifts to good causes.

The contract, for a new recycling and waste service for Cheshire West and Chester Council, is worth more than £800,000 and will see Straight manufacture and supply almost 400,000 recycling containers including kerbside boxes and food waste caddies to residents in the Borough.

As part of the new contract, May Gurney will introduce a weekly dry recycling and food waste collection which will cover more than 147,000 properties in the area. Residents will each receive two 55 litre Ergo Kerbside Boxes to collect their dry recyclables in, a 7 litre Kitchen Caddy to collect food waste in the kitchen and a 23 litre Kerbside Caddy to store collected food waste outside.

The new service will transform the area’s three individual existing kerbside recycling collections into a single, unified borough-wide service. The Council believes that this will help meet its objectives of delivering higher recycling rates, improved customer service and value for money.

The Council, which currently has a recycling rate of 49%, hopes that providing a weekly collection of these services will maximise participation and enable them to achieve a recycling rate of 63% once the scheme is fully implemented. The new recycling scheme is also set to save the Council in excess of £1.5 million per annum.

The new harmonised collection service will be rolled out in three phases over the next eight months.  The new service allows residents to recycle glass bottles and jars, mixed paper, cardboard, food and drinks cans, aluminium foil, mixed plastic food packaging, textiles, food and beverage cartons (tetrapaks), household and car batteries, spectacles, small electrical items, mobile phones, used cooking and engine oil, shoes, printer cartridges, garden waste and kitchen waste, from their doorsteps.

Jonathan Straight, Chief Executive of Straight plc commented:

“This is another significant contract win for Straight and is testament to our market-leading proposition. We are delighted to be working with May Gurney on another pioneering recycling project. We admire the ambition of setting a target higher than the average and I am looking forward to seeing this achieved”.

The new four year contract is estimated to be worth approximately £25 million across all suppliers and will see Straight continue to deliver a broad variety of products from its extensive recycling products portfolio to YPO and its customers.

Under the new agreement, the following Straight product ranges are included: Kitchen Caddy, Kerbside Caddy, Kerbside Box, and Wheeled Bin Inner Caddy.

In addition, other Straight products including water butts, home compost bins, office recycling containers and specialist containers for materials such as batteries are now also available.  This adds to the Straight product ranges which are already currently available through YPO, including plastic wheeled bins and the Steelybin® metal wheeled bin range.

YPO is the UK’s largest public sector procurement organisation.  YPO enables its public sector customers to benefit from cost and efficiency savings through bulk buying and its wide range of value-for-money products and services.  Framework agreements offer a fully compliant route to market allowing customers to buy goods without going through the full procurement process required through the Official Journal of the European Union.

Helen Wardman, Category Manager at YPO said: 

“YPO has worked with Straight for a number of years and we are delighted that we will be continuing to offer their products on this new framework.  Straight is able to offer a large selection of products, which means more choice for our customers.  Over the years, we have built a solid relationship with Straight and have been consistently impressed with the high levels of customer service and product quality.”

Jonathan Straight, Chief Executive of Straight plc commented: 

“We are very pleased to have been awarded a further YPO contract – we believe that this is testament to the quality of the products and service that we provide to our customers. We look forward to the relationship evolving further in the future.”

The Group is also pleased to announce that it has secured a position on a new framework agreement with the YPO. Straight now features on three key YPO framework agreements.

The new two year contract is estimated to be worth approximately £25 million spread across five suppliers and will see Straight continue to deliver a broad variety of products from its extensive recycling products portfolio to YPO and its customers.

Under the new agreement, the following Straight product ranges are included: Kitchen Caddy, Kerbside Caddy, Kerbside Box, and Wheeled Bin Inner Caddy. In addition, other Straight products including water butts, home compost bins, office recycling containers and specialist containers for materials such as batteries are now also available. This adds to the Straight product ranges which are already currently available through YPO, including plastic wheeled bins and the Steelybin^® metal wheeled bin range.

YPO is the UK’s largest public sector procurement organisation. YPO enables its public sector customers to benefit from cost and efficiency savings through bulk buying and its wide range of value-for-money products and services. Framework agreements offer a fully compliant route to market allowing customers to buy goods without going through the full procurement process required through the Official Journal of the European Union.

Jonathan Straight, Chief Executive of Straight plc commented:

“We are very pleased to have been awarded a further YPO contract – we believe that this is testament to the quality of the products and service that we provide to our customers. We look forward to the relationship evolving further in the future.”

Helen Wardman, Category Manager at YPO said:

“YPO has worked with Straight for a number of years and we are delighted that we will be continuing to offer their products on this new framework. Straight is able to offer a large selection of products, which means more choice for our customers. Over the years, we have built a solid relationship with Straight and have been consistently impressed with the high levels of customer service and product quality.”

Straight plc, the environmental products and services group and the UK’s leading manufacturer and supplier of waste and recycling container solutions, has been awarded a significant new contract to supply water saving products and associated services to Severn Trent Water.

The three year contract will be worth over £1 million, and will see Straight deliver almost 200,000 water saving products and accessories to customers in the region.  Many of the products will be free or will be heavily subsidised by Severn Trent to inspire customers to become more water efficient.

As part of the new contract, Straight will provide and manage a home delivery service and will also develop a bespoke website for residents to order their water saving products from.  The website will feature advice and water saving tips to encourage water conservation and promote the water saving products.  Residents will also be able to order their products through a dedicated telephone number, by coupon or through a text messaging service.

Products included in the contract are water butts, tap flow regulators, shower heads, shower timers and regulators, cistern displacement and dual flush retro devices and water saving kits.

Doug Clarke, Water Efficiency Manager at Severn Trent Water said: 

“We provide water and sewerage services to 3.7 million households and businesses across the Midlands and parts ofWales.  It is important for us all to start taking a more active role in reducing our water consumption.  This new agreement and the products available through the scheme will encourage Severn Trent Water residents to do just that.”

“We chose to work with Straight because they are able to offer an excellent range of products for our customers.  We are confident that they can also provide an extremely high level of customer serviceandhave the infrastructure to manage our accountandresident orders as required.”

Jonathan Adler, Retail Business Director for Straight added: 

“We are delighted to have been awarded this contract and we are looking forward to working closely with Severn Trent.  There is an excellent synergy between our two companies with a solid cultural fit.  Our experience at managing schemes of this type put us in an excellent position to go forward and win the contract.”

Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union has just advised that the UK recycled 24.8% of its municipal waste during 2010.  Allowing for waste which was composted, the rate increases to 38.8%.

The rest was either incinerated (12.2%) or landfilled.  The amount of municipal waste being landfilled was a shocking 49% of the total – or in other words more than we recycled and composted.

The EU Directive target is a 50% recycling rate by 2020 and whilst the Coalition Government thinks that individual councils should not have to comply with this target, overall the UK still has to reach it.  The Environmental Services Association believes it will cost £10bn to £20bn to upgrade the UK’s waste infrastructure to achieve this.  Yet we could do far more with much less using simple systems, common sense and a bit of ambition.

There are already 75 councils in the UK meeting or beating the 50% target.  Many of these are using simple kerbside sort methods to achieve their results.  Without an investment in MRFs or expensive and energy hungry processing plants high recycling rates are perfectly possible and the proof is there for everyone to see.

Delivering a kerbside sort model with separate food waste collection, home composting and chargeable garden waste collection will result is less residual waste.  Put in a bit of educational resource and it gets even better.  This will not cost billions, most can be achieved using the existing infrastructure.

The material collected in this way will be of a much higher quality and as a consequence will be worth more money.  Keeping everything in the UK instead of shipping to India and China will create jobs and opportunities and will keep increasingly scarce raw materials within our shores.

With the recent Defra consulation on recycling targets, the Campaign for Real Recycling victory over Defra’s extrapolation of the EU rules and the forthcoming MRF Code of Practice we have a real opportunity to build a better future with more and higher quality recycling in the UK.  Alternatively, we can stick at 50%, burn the rest and burn billions in the process.  The right way forward requires clarity of vision and a bit more ambition from our politicians.

Following the completion of a successful year long food waste collection trial, East Ayrshire Council is now exploring plans to further expand the scheme to coincide with the Scottish Government’s zero waste strategy.

The trial commenced in 2010 following analysis of residual waste carried out by the Council. This found that food comprised 26% of waste material being sent to landfill. Later that year, a WRAP report also identified that approximately £430 worth of food was wasted by each household in Scotland every year.

East Ayrshire Council opted for the 5 litre solid Kitchen Caddy and the 23 litre Kerbside Caddy as part of its food waste collection system. Both products are manufactured and supplied by Straight.

Malcolm Rae, Cleansing Services Manager for East Ayrshire Council commented:

“We chose to use the 5 litre Kitchen Caddy and the 23 litre Kerbside Caddy from Straight following positive feedback from other local authorities who were also using the products. This was a key factor in our decision making process, however; both products also offer good functionality and are competitively priced.”

The trial has helped to boost East Ayrshire’s recycling rate to 50.4% *. The Council is now collecting approximately 11 tonnes of food waste from 9,453 properties each week, equating to 572 tonnes of food waste per annum.

Malcolm Rae continues:

“The food waste trial is available to 20% of households in East Ayrshire. Plans to extend the scheme will be subject to the East Ayrshire Council’s Cabinet approval upon implementation of the Zero Waste (Scotland) Regulations. The Scottish Government’s proposed timetable will enable a structured and balanced introduction of food waste collections across Scotland. Food waste recycling for both domestic and commercial sectors will definitely help to significantly boost recycling performance in future years.”

Notes for editors:

* East Ayrshire Council recycling rate for Q1 (Apr – Jun) 2011 was 50.4% as per figures published by SEPA 28th November 2011.

Straight plc is pleased to announce that its new look website is now live. This follows on from the launch of the new Straight brand at the end of last year.

The new website follows an extensive market research project carried out last year, which saw Straight ditch its old image with a complete rebrand.  This formed part of Straight’s ongoing commitment to continually develop the business in line with customer and market needs.

Straight’s new website complements the company’s fresh and exciting new brand with a softer and more tactile look and feel.

As well as bringing visitors lots of new information about the company, its goals and its community work outside the industry, the website also has some new features including comments and expert opinions in a new blog, case studies of the company’s work, testimonials from customers and enhanced product information for visitors.

The new look website also offers visitors improved navigation and is much more interactive with increased social media interconnectivity.

Jonathan Straight, CEO of Straight plc commented:

“We are delighted to have launched our new website.  It is a showcase of all our key products and services in one location with a lot of supporting information.  Not only is it easier to use, but it is much more comprehensive.  It provides a great platform for us to offer a transformational experience to our customers.”