Environmental company Polytrack UK will be celebrating an outstanding first year in business next month in which they have completed expediential growth and reached a Welsh business awards final.

The Bedwas-based company specialises in polystyrene recycling and has helped in the development of a world first in clinical waste regeneration.

Its success saw it secure a place at the South Wales Chamber of Commerce Welsh Business Awards in the Environmental Excellence category.

Commercial director Tim Hourahine has developed Polytrack UK Ltd with the assistance of executive director Gareth Lewis.

Polystyrene waste and clinical blue wrap can be environmentally poor to dispose of. Polytrack's recycling processes for these materials are cost-effective, green alternatives to landfill and incineration.

Mr Hourahine said: "We looked at troublesome waste streams and identified the opportunity to collect and process polystyrene waste which is very light, and, in terms of landfill void, it is quite expensive to dispose of, not in terms of weight but generic landfill cost.

"If you are putting an uneconomical block (of polystyrene) into landfill, which is very light, it takes a long time to break down and costs local authorities, who dispose of this, an exceptional amount of money."

So instead of sending this to landfill, Mr Lewis and Mr Hourahine looked at compacting waste polystyrene by 90 per cent to make one solid block, a technique called 'densifying'.

From there, the recycled blocks of polystyrene can be re-introduced into the UK supply chain and made into a large range of products.

Mr Hourahine said: "We began this purely from an environmental impact point of view. We looked at the criteria that most councils were under in terms of constrictions, put on them by central government, to find ways of saving money."

Polytrack is working with all the south east Wales local authorities, who separate the polystyrene from other household waste. The polystyrene is then collected by Polytrack and returned into the manufacturing cycle.

Polytrack UK is also working in the health sector to recycle clinical blue wrap is nearing completion of its trials at St Woolos Hospital, Newport.

Mr Hourahine said: "What we recognised with our partner company was that we could re-engineer certain plastic waste streams including polypropylene. The company we were talking to had been involved in polypropylene 'blue wrap' which is used in hospital theatres for wrapping patients and all the equipment used."