THE Northern Echo you are reading today could be the same one you read last week - only the news is different.

Thanks to Foreman Recycling, of Spennymoor, County Durham, old copies of The Northern Echo, alongside other newspapers, are recycled into the newsprint of tomorrow, to be used by publishers across the UK.

The business, established in November 1999 with only two employees, now has more than 60 staff, and has two 40,000sq ft units on land formerly occupied by fridge manufacturer Electrolux, in Merrington Lane.

The success of the company, which handles more than 1,100 tonnes of waste a week, is proof of the dramatic growth of the green economy in recent years.

The firm is responsible for collecting kerbside recycling bins issued by local authorities across the region, helping businesses to reduce their costs, and even paying them money for their valuable waste.

Its list of customers reads like a Who's Who of business in the region, and includes water cooler manufacturer Ebac, Electrolux, Black and Decker, The Northern Echo, Durham County Council, and Wear Valley, Sedgefield and Derwentside councils.

The managing director of the family-owned business, John Foreman, 53, said: "We help local authorities and businesses to reduce their disposal costs, paying them money for their valuable waste, which ranges from paper through to scrap metal and plastics.

"In our first year in business, we had a turnover of £400,000. That has now reached £2.6m and is growing all the time."

Mr Foreman was previously managing director of Hartlepool firm SWS Waste Management, which initiated kerbside collections of waste paper in Sedgefield.

His two sons, Adam and Alex, and his daughter, Heidi, are involved in the business, and they have travelled the world to see how other nations handle their waste.

Mr Foreman said: "Foreman Recycling helps local authorities cut down on the amount of waste sent to landfill sites. You would be surprised at the tremendous amount of good recoverable waste that goes into such sites.

"And what is more, we pay businesses and local councils for that waste."

A constant stream of lorries filled with rubbish arrive at the company's base. Their contents are emptied and then sorted into useful materials by teams of workers. However, material that does not prove useful is still sent to landfill sites across the region.

Other lucrative avenues for waste come from discarded white goods and electrical goods, which can be stripped down, with their component parts returned to manufacturers for reuse.

Foreman Recycling is currently a big fish in the relatively small pond of the North-East, but Mr Foreman has ambitions to increase its coverage from coast-to-coast across the North.

He said: "Within the next few years, we hope to have depots for recycling situated at sites from the Scottish borders as far south as Sheffield, covering an area from coast-to-coast.

"Within ten years, while I cannot promise to double our staff numbers, I would expect to employ in the region of 100 people as the business grows.

"We have come a long way in a relatively short time. Our success is due, in some part, to targets for recycling set by the Government and new European Union directives on the recycling of white goods, such as fridges and freezers.

"We are one of the only firms licensed to process old fridges and freezers on behalf of local councils.

"Councils cannot just dump them in landfill sites any more. They have to be dealt with correctly, which is a boost for our business.

"Recycling is one of the buzzwords of the moment, and more and more companies and people are trying to do their bit for the environment by recycling their waste materials, which is obviously good news for Foreman Recycling."