Johnson Tiles UK – Norcros Group (Holdings) Ltd

Norcros Group (Holdings) Ltd sold its tile business, Johnson Tiles UK to its management in May 2024. As part of the sale, Norcros was to close and decommission its tile production operations at its Valley Works site off Harewood Street in Tunstall, Stoke-on-Trent.

The project included the safe disposal of surplus glaze and other production materials on site and given the complexity of the project, Norcros needed a reliable waste management partner to ensure material was removed, treated and disposed of within the framework of regularity compliance and sustainability. A prerequisite was a need to work within budget targets and, with the site being put on the market for sale, strict deadlines.

With an impressive heritage of almost 100 years trading, and a strong reputation for compliant hazardous waste management, Brown Recycling were the natural choice of delivery partner for Norcros for this part of its project.

The scope

Following an extensive site survey, and based upon an initial brief, Brown Recycling’s Commercial Manager, Steph Little, quoted to dispose of materials from the onsite glaze building and testing laboratory. This included sector specific waste such as powdered glass and ceramic glazes. As a result of the professionalism, efficiency and feedback to the client of its’ quotation process, Brown Recycling were instructed to complete these initial clearances during early Summer 2025.

During the removal of the initial glaze materials, and with a satisfactory working relationship established between the companies, the scope of work was extended to include additional quantities of redundant product and mixed hazardous/non-hazardous that required specialist and complex disposal.

As the client’s decommissioning of the 540,000 sq. ft factory progressed, Brown recycling was further consulted and instructed on the clearance and cleaning of effluent pits and various bunded areas. Through a constructive dialogue with the client challenges were overcome on issues such as the provision of water to the areas requiring jetting and phasing to avoid interference with other contractors.

The complexity of closing a tile manufacturing plant required several specialist contractors. Brown Recycling were the first port of call for expertise in delivering additional service waste management projects without hitch, on time, to budget, and to ensure the client’s regulatory requirements were met and operational pressures were minimised.

The solution

Working consultatively in a full project management role, Brown Recycling provided a tailored response to Norcros’s unique needs. Fragile vats of material were pumped of any free-flowing liquids by vacuum tanker prior to securing for transport. Specialist jetting equipment and water was supplied by a trusted industrial cleaning subcontractor, diluting the effluent pit sludge and creating a pumpable medium for extraction by vacuum tanker.

Additional forklift truck support was provided alongside pallets and specialist containers to get the job done. Brown Recycling even organised for excavation work to be carried out onsite, to allow the now decontaminated effluent pits to be filled in and made safe. In summary, Brown Recycling safely removed over 57 loads of material, equating to more than 1,000 tonnes of varied waste types, including hazardous materials requiring chemist analysis, repackaging and safe transport.

The team overcame significant logistical challenges, by providing full project management, technical audits, sampling, and subcontractor coordination. Throughout
the project, the team worked intensively to manage each phase, within a tightly controlled timeframe in line with the site decommissioning plan. Furthermore, rather than simply clearing the materials and sending them to landfill, Brown Recycling took the time to examine each waste stream individually and find the most responsible treatment route. Whether that meant recycling, recovery, treatment or, only where necessary, hazardous landfill, every decision followed the waste hierarchy and aimed to deliver the client’s requirement that the project’s carbon footprint was cut wherever possible.

The outcome

The project was successfully completed on budget and to full environmental compliance, by the July 31st deadline. The successful clearance left the site ready for a successful sale which took place a month later at the end of August.