Aspen Waite Director, David Scheeres, has designed, developed and implemented a pioneering process which has received national recognition and praise for turning the huge amount of waste caused by the use of disposable surgical face masks into a useful product.
Sterimelt technology, developed by David and colleagues, melts single-use polypropylene plastics with blocks later converted into new products such as bottles, bins and toolboxes, beginning a cycle of continual reprocessing.
David said: “As a designer and manufacturer of specialist heaters for the UK, USA, German and Japanese plastic OEM machinery manufacturing sector, it occurred to me that all plastic is formed with a thermal process and if we could simply reverse the manufacturing process, we could safely reduce the size of the waste and sanitise any organic residuals as a result of desiccation.”
David subsequently invented and patented the Styromelt machine that can be used to recycle polystyrene and other forms of packaging. 
“My ideas were converted to reality by my colleagues at Thermal Compaction Group who built machines to my patented designs. TCH have worked tirelessly to research and trial the technology and to introduce it to the NHS.”
This introduction has taken monumental strides with a machine built and initially trialled for two years with the support of the Aneurin Bevan University Health Board who facilitated trials at St Woolas Hospital in Newport.
David praised Aspen Waite for their involvement in supporting the innovation: “Over the period of development of the machine, TCG has been relentlessly supported by Aspen Waite who made sure that the company received the maximum Research and Development tax credits they were entitled to which allowed the prosecution of Global patents.
“I enjoyed working with Aspen Waite, as I considered Paul Waite, the founding Chief Executive, to be a visionary and initially, as an innovator and engineer. I helped assist Aspen Waite with the writing of technical reports and was honoured to be invited to become a director in 2013. The company is growing exponentially and Aspen Waite has consistently been the fastest growing firm of accountants in the UK for the past three years running.”
More information about Aspen Waite is available online at: www.aspenwaite.co.uk.
Join Somerset Chamber of Commerce to give your business a stronger voice both locally, regionally and nationally. Combined with local town chambers, we represent over 2,000 businesses across Somerset with a direct line to policy-makers at all levels.
