At IPL Brightgreen, nothing moves without material. Samantha Smallwood is the person who makes sure it keeps moving. As lead on procurement and our buy back scheme, Sam works with customers and suppliers across the UK to bring used rigid plastics back to Castleford, where they begin their next life as remanufactured products. Outside work, she’s a cadet leader and dedicated volunteer, the same sense of commitment she brings to the job.
We sat down with Sam to talk plastics, procurement and the questions everyone secretly wants to ask.
Let’s start simply. What do you actually do all day?
I spend my time talking to people about their waste plastic, which sounds less glamorous than it is. Through our buy back scheme, businesses that use our products can return them to us at end of life and we pay them for the material. My job is to make that as easy as possible, from arranging collections to making sure the material coming in is right for remanufacturing. I also handle procurement more widely, sourcing the polypropylene and HDPE we need to keep the plant running.
For the uninitiated, what is HDPE and why should anyone care?
HDPE is high density polyethylene. If you have ever picked up a milk bottle, a wheelie bin or a bottle cap, you have held it. It is tough, it resists chemicals and moisture, and crucially it recycles brilliantly. HDPE can go around the loop again and again without losing the properties that make it useful. That is why we love it. A material that performs this well should never end up in the ground.
What is the biggest misconception about recycled plastic?
That it is somehow second best. People assume recycled means weaker or lower quality, and that simply is not true for rigid plastics like HDPE and polypropylene when they are processed properly. The products we remanufacture perform to the same standards as virgin equivalents. The difference is the carbon footprint, which is dramatically lower, and the fact that we are keeping valuable material in use rather than making more from oil.
Talk us through the buy back scheme. Why does it matter?
It closes the loop in the most literal way possible. A customer buys a product from us, uses it for years, and when it finally reaches end of life they sell it back to us instead of paying to dispose of it. We know exactly what the material is because we made it, which means we can recycle it with confidence. The customer gets money back, we get high quality feedstock, and nothing goes to landfill. Everyone wins, including the planet.
What is the strangest thing you have seen come back through the scheme?
Can’t really say.
Quickfire round.
Tea or coffee? Coffee.
Desert island item, excluding anything made of plastic? A book.
Outside of work? Cadet leader and dedicated volunteer.
Best thing about working at IPL Brightgreen? Getting to do a role that is so niche.
And the fuller answer: what’s the best thing about working at IPL Brightgreen?
The people, honestly. There is real pride here in what we make and what it stands for. When you can point at a product and say that used to be waste and now it will last another twenty years, that never gets old.
Finally, if you could get every business in the UK to do one thing tomorrow, what would it be?
Ask where your plastic goes when you are finished with it. If the answer is a skip, talk to us. There is value in that material, financial and environmental, and schemes like ours exist to capture it.
