Happy 10th Birthday Kedel!

A recycled plastic success story...

It was the turn of the decade and three brothers from Bolton (Dermot, Lewis & Kieran Walch) decided to venture into business together, selling all manner of products and building materials made from recycled waste plastic. They started with no wages, a 1000sq ft unit, a £2.5k grant from Pendle Council and a loan of £15k from a generous brother in law. Now they employ 20+ people in a 25,000 sq ft unit in Burnley and product demand has increased about 30% every year since 2010.

Of course, they didn’t hit the ground running, no start-up business does, but what they did have was a collection of skills between the three of them sufficient to get a few basic products onto a website and into the public eye.

One of their earliest products was a 210 litre compost bin made from a used food grade screw top barrel, that sat on a frame made from recycled plastic CD cases. The frame elevated the compost bin off the ground, allowing it to be rotated. This circulated air and moisture in the compost so its contents decomposed faster than the average garden compost heap without the need for forking. They initially sold this on eBay and their customer base slowly began to grow.

The next step in Kedel’s growth led to manufacture of outdoor furniture and building materials such as cladding, tongue and groove and other profiles made from waste CD Cases and Contact Lens cases.

The rest, as they say, is history!

10 years on and Kedel have continued doing their bit for the environment, reducing the amount of waste plastic ending up in landfills or incinerators by turning it into sustainable, rot-proof, no maintenance products.

Products include Cladding, Decking, Fencing, Gates, Lumber, Benches, Picnic Tables and more!

The continued growth of Kedel has landed them numerous awards along the way, with the most prestigious coming in 2015, when their versatile ‘Plastic Wood’ won the National MRW Recycling Award for Best Recycled Product.

For a more detailed insight into the early days of Kedel, check out this short video tracing how 3 brothers from Bolton successfully launched a very successful Recycled Plastic Materials Business, and some of the challenges they faced on the way.