Serving the Teesside Business Community | 49
The Wilton 11 energy-from-
waste plant operated by Suez.
Photo by SABIC’s Andy Gowing.
SABIC-backed festival
“completely uplifting”
R
Standing tall: A stunning image
by SABIC’s Andy Gowing, this
one showing Olefins 6.
enowned designer Wayne Hemingway
has poured praise on SABIC after
families turned out in their thousands to
feast on money-saving ideas and cost-cutting
treats at the Festival of Thrift.
The Festival was delighted to boast
chemical company SABIC, which has its UK
headquarters based at Wilton, close to the
event’s Kirkleatham base, as a major partner
this year.
One of the festival’s founders, Hemingway
said: “We love the Festival of Thrift. It’s
becoming one of the biggest events in this
part of the world.
“It put more than 150 small businesses
in front of 40,000 people, boosting the local
economy by somewhere between £750,000
and £1 million.
“It was so important we brought it to
Teesside. We’ve been asked to take it to
Bristol and so many other places but as long
as the community and
local businesses such
as SABIC continue to
support it I can’t see a
reason why we’d ever
take it anywhere else.
“It brings in lots of
visitors from outside the
region, who maybe only
think of Middlesbrough
and Redcar as places
where there have been
major job losses, but
in fact there’s loads of
beauty here including the
beaches of Saltburn and
Redcar.
“But it’s not only about the proven
financial return, as great as that is. It’s about
the happiness, joy and learning it brings,
encouraging people to get creative and try
something new.
“It’s a completely uplifting event.”
From pop-up camper van restaurants to
den-building and chutney-making, there
were plenty of quirky attractions to enjoy
at a festival that prides itself as a national
celebration of sustainable living.
Festival director Stella Hall added:
“SABIC’s stated commitment to embedding
sustainability into its business model is to be
applauded and we were delighted to work
with them.
“Like the festival, SABIC is rooted locally
but with a global reach, making us a powerful
joint force to spread important messages
about how to lessen our impact on our
planet.”
Funding: SABIC staff
celebrate the firm’s backing
of the Festival of Thrift with
event volunteers.
HERE’S TO GOOD HEALTH
(AND WELLBEING)
S
Beach baby: Paige Watson was a member
of SABIC’s Redcar beach clean-up team.
ABIC’s site director Daren Smith has
reaffirmed the chemical giant’s ongoing
commitment to health and wellbeing
after the firm achieved the Better Health at
Work Award for Continuing Excellence for
the thir d year running.
Employing 650 people across the firm’s
Wilton and North Tees sites, SABIC takes
the mental and physical wellbeing of its staff
very seriously.
Having recently celebrated 10 years on
Teesside with a major investment in the
iconic Olefins 6 plant at Wilton, the firm is
also investing in its people with training and
personal development programmes.
And Smith insists: “It’s not just about
training or developing our current workforce,
however. We take the mental and physical
wellbeing of our staff extremely seriously.
“I’m particularly proud that, through our
very active Health and Wellbeing volunteers,
we have achieved the Better Health at Work
Award for Continuing Excellence once again.
“Our comprehensive Corporate and Social
Responsibility programme ensures that we
also support and look after the health and
wellbeing of our communities.
“This can be either by providing
volunteers, giving in-kind support, running
engagement activities or providing social or
economic benefits.
“We undertake a huge amount of projects
around environmental protection, education
work and financial support for community
programmes. This CSR activity, along with
the launch of our new volunteering policy,
contribute to a feeling of pride from our
employees.”