Marmax was approached by Nikki Cawley and Mark Randall from Volkswagen’s HQ in Milton Keynes.

They wanted Marmax to work with them to create a circular activity combining the use of their waste plastic suspension blocks in Marmax’s recycled plastic products, for use at their head office green areas and/or local schools in Milton Keynes.

Volkswagen as a company have a strong focus on sustainability and the circular economy. When being transported, each Volkswagen vehicle has blocks to protect it in transit from the factory. The blocks are removed from vehicles at retailers or when they are given their PDI check.

Where possible these are then sent to be processed into polymer flakes. These flakes can then be moulded to create new products. Having spoken with Marmax’s customer service team they went on to purchase some of the Olympic Picnic Benches.

Volkswagen have positioned their benches between Blakelands and Wymbush in Milton Keynes, other products are being reviewed for situating elsewhere. Each Marmax Olympic Picnic Bench has the equivalent of 2544 blocks per bench. This equates to an average of 636 cars processed per bench, or a total of 126 kg of polyproplylene.

To help portray the closed loop recycling message we manufactured a bespoke display box in conjunction with the VW team to be filled with the blocks to show the before and after products in the same environment.

Thanks to Volkswagen for providing us with the pictures and allowing us to use them. The Marmax team are always delighted to speak to customers and advise them on the correct products for their requirements. The Marmax production team love a challenge, and are more than happy to discuss bespoke solutions if one of their existing products doesn’t fit the bill.