As Operations Manager at one of the busiest fridge plants in the UK, Donovan Groenewald oversees the recycling of 8,000 fridges per week – equivalent to 400,000 every year. And while his facility – EMR Willesden – continues to serve London and southern England, it is the replacement of EMR Darlaston, located a few miles from Birmingham city centre, which is providing a blueprint for the future – for both Donovan and his team.
“One of the advantages of what’s happening at our sister plant – EMR Darlaston – is that we’re going to be able to learn a huge amount and apply that to our site. It’s a showcase for our industry,” says Donovan.
EMR is in the middle of a substantial programme of investment, both at the new EMR Darlaston site as well as at EMR Willesden, and Donovan says his team have been making visits to the Midlands site to see its new technology and advanced processes in action.
“We’ve installed the same new system at Willesden for removing the hazardous gas and oil from the cooling circuit and compressor and there’s some even bigger investments in the pipeline to turbo charge the efficiency of our much-loved plant,” he says.
While keeping up with technology is crucial, Donovan says one of the keys to the success of his plant is the 28-strong team that works for him.
“I’m lucky that I work with a lot of brilliant people. They are split into four different shifts and each of these sub-teams includes a shift supervisor, who can keep the plant running when I'm not there.
“The plant runs at night and during weekends and our shift supervisors are very resourceful with a great understanding of potential hazards that we face recycling fridges.”
Donovan then has a team of general operatives, all of whom are essential to the good running of the plant:
“If we miss just one person it puts a lot of strain on everyone else, so another part of my role is building a team of consistent and reliable employees for every shift.”
Donovan’s team also includes a senior administrator, who ensures the site remains complaint and that every fridge that arrives on site is properly recorded.
With staff working in shifts around the clock, maintenance is particularly important at EMR’s fridge plants, and Donovan says maintaining the good running of equipment is also a crucial element of ensuring the site remains compliant:
“The Environment Agency requires us to keep a track of the gases and liquids – such as blowing agents and refrigerants – which we collect, so we do a lot of preventative maintenance to replace parts before there is a problem in the first place.”
Donovan began his career in the 1990s, working at an animal feed mill in South Africa before moving to the UK. He took on a number of temporary jobs and then applied for a role in the agency he was using himself – supplying staff to a range of firms, including EMR.
Throughout the next two decades, Donovan continued to work hard on building his skills.
“I studied for a diploma in HR, took courses in IOSH (health and safety) and different management systems, and then was given the opportunity to join EMR in 2021. I can’t believe it’s been nearly three years already.”
In the two decades since the first fridge plants were opened in the UK, Donovan says the improvements he’s witnessed have become an increasing source of pride:
“If you go back 20 years or so, fridge recycling wasn’t really happening, and newspapers were filled with pictures of huge mountains of old fridges that no one knew what to do with. Now we have state-of-the-art technology which can capture all of those harmful chemicals, faster and more accurately than ever before. At the same time, we’re recycling more material – more efficiently and sustainably than ever. To now be a part of the progress EMR is making is very satisfying.”
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