Union Jack table tops designed and made by Trowbridge inventor and entrepreneur Nick Stillwell from recycled ASDA coat hangers are to be displayed by the supermarket giant.
Nick created the tables with hangers from the ASDA store in Frome. Now one will be on display in a meeting room at the group’s headquarters in Leeds and another will be used at ASDA’s George clothing brand head office in Leicestershire.
ASDA’s George manager in Frome, Stephanie Knapton, was so thrilled with the tables she has asked Mr Stillwell, who lives in Wingfield, near Trowbridge, to make one for their own training room.
Between 500 and 600 coat hangers have gone into each of the 8ft by 4ft table tops which weigh 35 kilos.
Mr Stillwell, who founded his Protomax plastics engineering company in Frome and Swansea, now produces panels and other bespoke items using a mixture of recycled plastics, concrete, wood, blast aggregate and more. His machine, that turns mixed waste into usable everyday items, is the only one of its kind in the country.
Mr Stillwell describes his new product as ‘the new mdf ‘ but it is also suitable for inside and out as it does not rot, perish, warp or rust and is completely frost proof.
It is durable, lightweight and low cost and even better is the fact that the panels can be recycled again after use. Panels can be painted any colour or colours without the need for repainting.
“The Government’s target is to drastically reduce the amount of waste going to landfill by 2015. It’s a tall order but with more mixed waste recycling – which I prefer to call ‘up-cycling’ – the chances of reaching that target will be so much better,” said Mr Stillwell.
“The fact that clients are up-cycling their own waste into products, such as ASDA recycling coat hangers, proves a positive commercial attitude,” he added.
Other products handled by Protomax include carpets, sweet wrappings, coffee machine foil cartons and left-over products from discarded airbags in cars, all of which are turned into items such as furniture, table tops, shower cubicles, cylinders, military and protective use including letter bomb disposal containers and bulletproof cladding for armoured vehicles and blood transportation boxes.
