Sustainable success

Entrepreneurial spirit and a dedication to sustainability positions one Cornish business at the head of its field across the UK.

O

ltco, today, is the UK’s leading supplier and installer of resin solutions. Operating on a national scale, it helps clients up and down the country to transform their spaces, assisting in projects across the residential and commercial market. But despite its growth since its founding in 2004, Oltco remains true to its roots, in fact the company HQ can still be found in its hometown of Newquay, right here in Cornwall.

From the very beginning, Founder and Director, Tom Stringer, has been passionate about offering innovative solutions. After training at Camborne School of Mines as a mining engineer, he began to specialise in non-slip floor solutions. This led him to epoxy and polyurethane resin coatings and screeds, from whence Tom soon set his sights on using his technical background and expertise to develop effective, aesthetic and practical resin solutions for both domestic and commercial uses. This passion and innovation runs through the very heart of Oltco. 

Later, in 2011, Tom was joined by Co-Director John Pearce, who came aboard to help to raise the profile of Oltco even further, enabling it to deliver services on a national scale. 

Today, as the UK and Channel Islands’ leading sustainable resin-bound driveway specialist, Oltco has recycled the equivalent of 500 million plastic straws. How? By offering eco-conscious clients an alternative to traditional resin bound solutions, in the form of Oltco’s very own, world-first, sustainable solution, Recycle Bound.

It was at the beginning of 2019 when the two Cornish entrepreneurs came up with this unique solution to help tackle the issue of plastic waste littering the globe. Growing up in Cornwall, Tom and John had seen first-hand the devastating effect that plastic waste has on our coastline, and as they grew increasingly concerned about its effect on our planet as a whole, they decided to set about doing something about it. Now, more than four years later, Oltco’s Recycle Bound solution is not just being used in residential driveways; in fact, it has, and continues to be used at some of the UK’s top hotels and attractions. 

Indeed, this innovative product has proven a huge success, and with good reason. Recycle Bound is made utilising waste plastic (straws, drink bottles, food packaging) from a plastic recycling point, with each square metre comprising approximately 3,000 straws’ worth of plastic. This means that if Recycle Bound was laid on a standard 70 square-metre driveway, the project would recycle the equivalent of 210,000 plastic straws! Perhaps unsurprisingly, this amazing product has achieved recognition from multiple awards, including ‘Product of the Year’ at the Cornwall Business Awards, runner up for ‘Recycled Product of the Year’ in the National Recycling Awards, and ‘Sustainability Warrior’ at the British Franchise Association, an award category created specifically for Oltco to recognise its sustainability achievements. Impressive! It’s no wonder that attractions across the UK including the Eden Project, National Trust Sheffield Park & Garden, and the location of the G7 Summit, Carbis Bay Hotel, have chosen to incorporate the product into their sites. In fact, to-date, Oltco has recycled the equivalent of 1.7 million plastic straws… at the Eden Project alone!

“It is so exciting and rewarding to see so many of our customers, both domestic and commercial, opting for Recycle Bound,” says Tom. “We have recycled the equivalent of 500 million plastic straws, which is incredible!”

John Pearce agrees. “Hitting that number after four years is a huge milestone and one that we’re incredibly proud of. We won’t be stopping there though, as the number of plastic straws that are recycled in our Recycle Bound installations increases every single day. So here’s to the next 500 million!” 

Oltco Ltd
01637 540039
info@oltco.co.uk
www.oltco.co.uk