Ward achieves approval of the ISO 9001:2015 quality standard for its deep-sea dock at Immingham.

Derbyshire-based metal and waste recycling specialist, Ward, has achieved approval of the ISO 9001:2015 quality standard from Lloyd’s Register (LR) for its deep-sea dock at Immingham.

The dedicated Associated British Ports (ABP) site in North Lincolnshire was opened in 2018 for collecting, processing and recycling ferrous and non-ferrous metals for export. The move expanded Ward’s capability for processing over 500,000 tonnes of metal annually and this month it received official accreditation from prestigious auditors, Lloyd’s Register, for its Quality Management Systems.

Ashley Oates, Head of Sustainability at Ward, said: “We used the period of disruption during lockdown to be able to really focus on achieving this accreditation. We took the opportunity to scale back other projects and spent the time going through the rigorous audit process required to meet the Lloyd’s Register quality standards. We managed to complete both the Stage 1 and Stage 2 audits in record time.”

The scope of the approval is applicable to the provision of waste and scrap metal collection services, the processing and recycling of such materials and the supply/disposal of the products produced.  

Ashley added: “It is a prestigious quality standard and we are proud of the team for working so hard to deliver the requirements in the relatively short time Immingham has been operational. This gives us a real competitive advantage in the metal export market.”

Lloyd’s Register assessors and trainers are sector specific experts who fully understand the business and sectors that Ward operates in. Its quality management solutions are deployed to improve both the effectiveness and efficiency of an organisation. As an approved client, Ward is now among a limited number of businesses that can use a Lloyd’s Register approval mark to demonstrate its achievement to clients, prospective clients and key stakeholders.

The quality approval comes as the multi-award winning, independent fourth generation family business completed a significant investment at its Ilkeston site with the installation of a Metso pre-shredder and has started to be able to offer its full range of metal recycling and waste management services, rather than only key essential and clinical waste services, as lockdown measures begin to ease.