The girls in the office started an Instagram account which they intend to use to keep people abreast of the regular events that affect our everyday life on our hillside.

Our replacement for our MAN hook loader finally arrived, a DAF CF530 with Harsh hook lift gear fitted. We’ve had our usual livery applied albeit with coach lines applied for a change. We’ve stayed with the metallic maroon cab and red chassis and it looks really nice, Durabright wheel rims are a first for us, something the driver (youngest son John) wanted. It has a kelsa top bar and twin air horns, the sort of stuff that almost seems standard kit these days. With a Euro 6 530hp engine it should eat the hills around these parts.

Following on from the car park we had all of our road markings re-laid with new loading bays and pedestrian ways marked out. We then installed additional new signs across the site with information and safety warnings. This all designed to make site visits safer and easier as well as being a pleasanter experience whilst hopefully contributing to a smoother workflow for us.

Our second new Sennebogen arrived, an 825E this time weighing around 29 tonnes and having 14 metres reach. This machine is fitted with a 55” electro-magnet. The magnet will generally be used for handling heavier foundry grade material and unloading smaller vehicles. With the same environmentally friendly attributes as the 830E the machine is designed to be fast and powerful but to save fuel and cut emissions. Again Turners came along to apply the graphics for a nice finishing touch.

We created a staff car park on the untidy footprint of our old weighbridge. We also incorporated work to install a new underground storage tank for the site water supply as the old ones were corroding and we needed to work proactively in replacing them. M Stead resurfaced the new car park and approach road with recycled steel slag tarmac which we have used for over 40 years and find to be the best for durability and carrying weight. It was overkill on the car park really but it looks really nice. We then landscaped and reseeded the area which had become overgrown and very untidy with roots blocking drains-which we also replaced. The old steel barrier has been replaced with attractive low stone walls. The stone for these walls was reclaimed from the weighbridge base some of which was in the hard-core used in the base which was sourced from demolition that took place in the 1960’s so now on its third life that we know of-real recycling! We’ve had the area white lined and moved the exit point to a place where visibility is much better for accessing what is a fast albeit rural road.

We took delivery of a new 40 tonne Sennebogen 830E. This machine with 17 metre reach and increased weight handling capacity is our largest scrap handler to date. Fitted with a heavy duty Sennebogen five tine grab this machine will make the job of loading and stockpiling much easier, the extra power makes it easier to break machinery down in to smaller pieces prior to further processing. The machine is manufactured with many environmentally friendly features including the latest version of the Cummins Euro 6 engine. For the operator there is a soundproofed air-conditioned cab with fantastic visibility which includes CCTV around the structure. This is the third generation of Sennebogen that we have owned with previous machines proving to be extremely robust and, because we maintain them to a high standard, they command excellent residual prices when we sell them. We always get Paul Turner Signs in to apply our company name etc. as it we think it’s a nice touch even though they are yard based.

We had an unannounced visit from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), our first in recent memory. It had been in the press that all recycling sites were going to get an inspection and it’s easy to get stressed about the prospect of a visit by officialdom but we have spent heavily on site improvements for many years. We also have the business audited once a year by Pearson Holland of Wakefield, this has been going on since the late 90’s and the investment paid off after we received a glowing report. The tidiness and general housekeeping had them astounded and they described as the best site of its type that they had visited. I knew there was a reason for the constant sweeping and tidying!