“It was a crisp January morning 35 years ago when I made the first collection of photographic waste for the newly-formed Silver Lining, which later became the WasteCare Group Ltd. In fact it was 8th January 1980 and the unsuspecting company was Wymondham Photographic in Norfolk! Without any means of testing the silver content of the waste, or a process for recovering the precious metal, I nervously handed over £60 cash for the liquid waste which I bundled into the back of my car.
“Getting home I rang my two partners in London to tell them of my ‘success’. It was a matter of a week or so before we realised the 200 litres of photo-fixer was only worth around £40 and that was before we knew how to extract it, let alone find an outlet to sell it.
“The company was capitalised on my £100 student overdraft facility, so with only £60 left to work with we had to learn fast. The rest is history.”
– This is how Peter Hunt remembers the early days of WasteCare.
Today the WasteCare Group employs over 450 people handling and recycling over 1,000 different waste streams on behalf of over 28,000 clients. Including PackCare, WeeeCare and BatteryBack, the Group boasts the largest producer compliance membership in the UK.
Although Wymondham Photo is no longer in business, we are delighted to celebrate this milestone by making a presentation to our oldest (most loyal) client AH Leach Ltd in Brighouse, customer number 29, who had their first collection in March 1980.
