From Concept to Scale: Staffing a World-Leading Waste Facility

The Overview

Supporting complex waste and recycling operations from concept to full production is a key part of the Smart Solutions approach. Through close collaboration with partners, we help organisations build operational capability, recruit skilled teams and establish safe, efficient processes from the ground up.

Our partnership with WKE Limited at the Port of Middlesbrough demonstrates how this approach can support innovative projects within the waste sector. By providing workforce management, operational support and technical expertise, Smart Solutions helped WKE establish one of the UK’s most advanced waste pelletising facilities.

The Challenge

WKE Limited was developing what would become the world’s largest waste pelletising facility, designed to process up to 378,000 tonnes of Solid Recovered Fuel (SRF) each year.

The facility cleans, homogenises, stabilises, dries and pelletises SRF material to create an alternative fuel for heavy industry.

As a private equity-backed business in its early stages, WKE required a partner that could support the operational setup of the site. At the time, the company did not have the internal infrastructure needed to recruit and manage the workforce required to run such a complex facility.

Building a team, establishing safe operating procedures and implementing operational systems while the project was still evolving required a flexible and experienced workforce partner.

The Approach

Smart Environmental Support Services (ESS), part of Smart Solutions, partnered with WKE during the early stages of the project, when the facility was still largely conceptual.

Working closely with the management team, Smart Solutions provided a range of services including:

• Workforce recruitment and labour provision
• Environmental and operational support
• Health and safety management
• Training and workforce development
• Provision of mobile plant and operational resources

By acting as an external operations and maintenance support partner, Smart Solutions helped WKE build the workforce and operational structure required to bring the site into production.

Throughout the project, Smart Solutions supported the recruitment process, implemented health and safety systems, and developed the documentation and training programmes needed to ensure safe and efficient site operations.

This collaborative approach allowed the team to adapt as the project evolved, ensuring the right people, processes and systems were in place at each stage of the facility’s development.

The Results

Through this partnership, WKE successfully developed and launched a highly specialised waste processing facility capable of producing alternative fuel for heavy industry.

Smart Solutions played a key role in establishing the operational workforce, implementing training programmes and supporting the safe ramp-up of site operations.

The collaboration enabled WKE to focus on the technical development of the facility while Smart Solutions managed many of the operational and workforce requirements needed to bring the project to life.

Today, the facility represents a major innovation within the UK waste and recycling sector, demonstrating how collaboration and operational expertise can support the successful delivery of complex infrastructure projects.