WORKSURFACES & SPLASHBACKS
Reutilize - if you don’t need it, might someone else?
Tim Matthews I
n a recent LinkedIn post, Nike’s Circular Economy Director, Peggy Reid, shared a quote that resonated deeply with the mission championed at
reutilize.co.uk: “Waste is simply excess material in the wrong person’s hands.” This, put in a nutshell, is Utilize’s core goal - connecting customers with available materials efficiently.
Counter Production’s MD, Tim Matthews, expands on this point: “At its heart,
reutilize.co.uk is a platform dedicated to promoting this material efficiency. We understand that in today’s world, where resources are finite, it’s crucial to maximize the utility of existing materials. By employing a streamlined database search, the platform achieves this by matching available materials with those who can make the best use of them.” As the person in charge of Counter Production Ltd, an established Corian®/solid surface fabrication company based in the UK, Tim questioned the excess material and stockpiling that was occurring in his own factory. “Despite our efforts to maximize efficiency through purchasing, waste material always seemed to accumulate. This issue isn’t unique to the solid surface industry; it’s quite often driven by suppliers aiming to cut costs and maintain margins. While some suppliers like CDUK have addressed this problem by offering ‘part’ sheet purchases for Corian®, many others still require full sheet purchasing, contributing to the problem leftover waste. I pondered a simple
Matt Broughton speaks to Counter Production’s Managing Director, Tim Matthews, about the “Reutilize” initiative.
question: if we don’t need it, might someone else? This question led to the creation of
reutilize.co.uk.”
www.reutilize.co.uk acts as a bridge, connecting potential users. “Through simple database technology, we make your available materials visible to potential customers, and vice versa. When multiplied across all users within a specific industry, it can become a powerful shared resource for material procurement, with a strong recycling message at its heart.” The response from the industry has been incredible, with 45+ companies signed up to use the platform. As Tim expands into other sectors, he anticipates even more traction in the industry.
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Reutilize.co.uk emerged from a commitment to environmental responsibility on behalf of our customers.
“We’ve made a substantial impact by diverting over a tonne of waste materials from landfills,” Tim explains, “In just a few months, we’ve successfully sold more than 250 individual material pieces that would have otherwise gone to waste or been overlooked.”
One of the deliberate advantages embedded in the platform’s design was to create a simple tool that allows users to build a digital stock list of their offcuts and stock for internal use. “This innovation has led to a 300% increase in material utilization
within our own factory, thanks to the streamlined access to information for our production manager. When dealing with time and volume constraints, tracking, finding, and using the right piece of offcut can be challenging. With over a thousand pieces of material to manage, our production manager’s job has become significantly easier and more efficient.” Future plans include expanding on the achievements in the solid surface sector to include natural/sintered stone and quartz materials. This market is significantly larger than solid surfaces, with a similar narrative of material waste. “As the head of Counter Production Ltd, our constant aim is to enhance the value and service we provide to our customers. While
reutilize.co.uk was established to benefit all companies in our industry, it has also enabled us as a company to engage with our own customers in a positive way. In doing so, we’ve been able to meet, albeit in a small way, some of the sustainability demands they expect from us, allowing us to offer an eco- friendlier value proposition.”
As for the rest of 2023 and beyond… Tim explains: “Balancing the responsibilities of operating a busy fabrication company and advancing
reutilize.co.uk, all while advocating for the principles of “Reduce, Reuse, Reutilize.””
28 BKU NOVEMBER 2023
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