Local family business creating new jobs with £90k North East Growth Fund investment

A Gateshead family business is growing profits and creating new jobs following investment to feed its production of compost made from recycled garden waste.

Greentech Services in Chopwell is using the increased production capacity, delivered through a £90k investment, to expand its production compound by an additional 3,071 sq m.

This includes the construction of a purpose-built concrete pad which will enable the firm to realise a 50 per cent increase in the production of its fine grade compost, used in horticultural, landscaping and house building applications.

The work was undertaken with support of a grant of £36k from the North East Rural Growth Network’s Rural Business Growth Fund (RBGF), part of a programme designed to boost business growth and stimulate employment in local, rural communities.

Two new full-time machine operator jobs have, so far, been created, to work alongside its existing five members of staff.

The site expansion will also enable the business to increase the amount of green waste it recycles from councils in Newcastle, Gateshead, County Durham and Northumberland, with a target of a 50 per cent increase in green waste recycled at the site by March 2021.

Darren Willey, who established Greentech Services 15 years ago in order to diversify the family agricultural business, said: “The business was at a turning point.

“We had our landscape grade compost where we wanted it as a product but had outgrown our yard and were working at full capacity. The funding enabled us to maximise our investment and get the infrastructure in place to continue our growth trajectory.

“The RBGF has enabled us to realise our aspirations for taking the business to the next level, in terms of the amounts we are able to supply in the horticultural landscaping market, much sooner than would otherwise have been possible.”

The new space aims to give the business flexibility in terms of its scope for an increased volume of green waste coming on to the site as well as making higher yields of its fine grade compost possible.

Colin Bell, business growth director at the North East Local Enterprise Partnership, added: “The North East Rural Growth Network funds are designed to offer support to rural businesses, enabling them to grow and create more jobs.

“It’s great to see an ambitious, family run firm such as Greentech Services getting the support they need to not only accelerate its growth and create jobs but also to increase the volume of green waste it recycles and further its commitment to the environment.”

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