Shireoaks recycling plant: Founder of firm hoping to build recycling facility previously convicted of dumping waste

A representative for the Shireoaks Plastic Recycling Centre & Energy Recovery Facility Project Team said that Mr Stride was no longer employed with Envale and had no association with the proposed facility. Mr Stride also confirmed that he now had no connection to Envale.

Orion Support Services also experienced issues related to complying with Environment Agency permits before it went into administration in 2018. The company is now dissolved.

An administrator’s report from the time said: “The terms of the [company’s] planning permission and the Environment Agency permits were in serious breach. There was a realistic chance that the company would be forced to cease trading as the Environment Agency permit would be revoked.”

The firm also had a permit suspended in 2015 due to dust problems at its London facility.

Documents seen by The Yorkshire Post show that the Environment Agency granted a permit for Envale UK to operate a waste disposal site in Shireoaks, Worksop, in November 2020. This came before Mr Stride left the company in 2021.

The Environment Agency did not supply a response when asked if Mr Stride was under investigation when the permit was granted.

Our business newsletter will give you the inside track

Late last year, Envale, along with Oxford-based company Refiniti, proposed to build a new recycling facility in Shireoaks, situated on the site which Envale currently holds an environment permit. The current permit only allows for the company to process “legacy” waste from a former facility.

Nearby residents have formed an action group to block the proposed site, raising concerns around its potential to harm the environment and human health. Lesley Rowlands, one of the group’s founders, said she was “extremely alarmed” by Mr Stride’s previous conviction, and that Envale had been granted a permit to operate in Shireoaks.

The Yorkshire Post presented to Mr Stride residents' concerns, inviting him to comment on them. He failed to do so.

Shireoaks Plastic Recycling Centre & Energy Recovery Facility Project Team said: “Mr John Stride’s association with Envale UK Ltd ended in November 2021. Mr Stride is no longer associated with or employed by Envale UK Ltd. Mr Stride has no involvement in the proposed Shireoaks Plastics Recycling Centre and Energy Recovery Facility development. Environmental protection for future generations is at the heart of our ethos, we are committed to helping Nottinghamshire combat the climate crisis and plastic pollution crisis.”

The group said that the facility would stop up to 20,000 tonnes of non-recyclable plastic waste from going to landfill per year, and could generate electricity to power over 650 homes every year.