OUR STORY
Owned and managed by William Nicholls, Ecogen's experience within the commercial waste sector dates back to 2001.
The Story Behind Ecogen...
Owner and current managing director William Nicholls established Ecogen Recycling (previously known as Berkshire Associates UK Ltd) in February 2010, initially as a consultancy service to help customers achieve environmental accreditations with The Environment Agency. His previous experience as Operations Manager for one of the largest plastic recycling companies in Hampshire stood him in good stead, and by 2012 William was able to leave his employment to work on Ecogen full-time.
With £1,500 working capital, William approached the T J Group, a customer and one of the largest independent recycling companies on the South Coast, with a proposition to share one of their small sites in Winchester. Such was the success of this partnership that by early 2014, both companies had outgrown the site, leading Ecogen to move to a new, independent premises on New Farm Road, Alresford.
To this day, Ecogen still handle all the paper and plastic recycling for the T J Group, and owe them greatly for their support during the early years. After six years of sustained growth at Alresford it was again time to find a bigger premises and upscale capacity. In September 2020 Ecogen bought Kings Worthy Business Park (formally Europe’s largest chicken farm). This site is nearly seven times larger than Alresford and has a capacity of around 8000 tonnes per month making it easily the largest independent card and plastic recovery facility in Hampshire, if not, the South Coast.
From humble beginnings, Ecogen now handle over 4,000 metric tons of cardboard, paper and plastic material every month. Ecogen employs 25full time staff and have a turnover exceeding £8m. Investment in the latest, most eco-friendly and energy efficient recycling equipment now exceeds £2m.
William still runs the day-to-day operation, with support from commercial director James Lewis, operations manager Toby Mottram, and accounts director (and William's wife) Megan.
As a company, Ecogen achieved a 99.76% recycling rate in 2018/19, with 100% of all materials recovered and 0.24% going on to become RDF (Refused Derived Fuel) rather than being sent to landfill, one of the highest recycling rates of any company in the UK.
What Our Customers Say...
Brett J - Site Manager, Automotive Manufacturer
"I started using Ecogen in 2015 and have never looked back the service level is fantastic. There has been times when I have needed extra collections at very short notice and the requests are actioned with no issues.
The rebates are among the best in the country. I have changed many suppliers over the last 5 years and Ecogen still set the benchmark for others to follow. The monthly reports are on time and never late and the staff are a pleasure to talk to and helpful."
Mark T - Warehouse Manager, IT Distribution
"We aim to do our bit for the environment by reducing our carbon footprint, part of this is the recycling of waste commodities. Paper, card and plastic are our biggest commodity to be recycled and so for this, we use the professional services of Ecogen Recycling.
Ecogen has been reliable, dependable, trustworthy and very well priced. I have visited the Ecogen site to witness the destruction of delicate confidential material which I took in person and whilst there, found everyone to be friendly, polite and happy in their work.
Long may the relationship between Ecogen and us continue!"
Richard H - Lorry Driver, Local Haulage Company
“A lovely place to load. Lovely new concrete yard and friendly staff. I’d definitely recommend Ecogen. Quick loading.”