RECYCLING offers sound commercial opportunities, firms are being told. Glass, paper, plastic and organic waste markets were identified as leading areas for development at the launch of ReMaDe (Recyclables Market Development) Kent and Medway.

The scheme backs the development of recycling markets and waste reduction and is the first of its kind in the region. Companies can call upon international and national experience to help them change practices.

More than 100 delegates attended the event at the University of Greenwich Kings Hill Institute, West Malling. Programme manager Diana Lock said: "We are convinced that there is tremendous scope for firms and we want to see the development of a wide range of recycling businesses.

"We will be supporting new business start-ups and helping existing businesses diversify and expand. The aim is to create a local economy that is both dynamic and sustainable."

The project is receiving £600,000 from Brett Environment Trust. Brett Waste Management has introduced machinery to bale plastic bottles for recycling into new plastic products and some of the products were on show.

Alastair Finlayson, Brett's waste management director said: "We believe that ReMaDe is a valuable and imaginative initiative that will be able to make a real difference to waste management in Kent and Medway. This will be a project based on commercial disciplines and one which both builds new businesses and establishes a sustainable business approach in waste management."

ReMaDe is also supported by Kent County Council, Medway council and Business Link Kent. Speakers at the launch included Peter Darby, chairman of Kent Sustainable Business Partnership, Ray Georgeson, policy director at Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP), Lee Robinson, principal consultant at Enviros, Ian Broxup, financial director Aylesford Newsprint, and Mike Harrison, Kent County Council's chief whip.

ReMaDe is based on the experiences of the Seattle-based Clean Washington Centre in the USA, which was established in 1991 to stimulate markets for recycled materials. As a result, the recycling rate rose from five per cent to 52 per cent during the 1990s.

The first ReMaDe initiative in the UK was in Scotland and full-scale programmes are being undertaken in Merseyside and London with other projects being run in Essex, Bristol, Manchester and Yorkshire.