A FOREST firm which recycles some of the rarest metals on Earth turned its sights to everyday waste to help improve the local environment.

Staff at the BASF plant in Valley Road, Cinderford took part in three litter picks which saw a total of more than 200kgs of litter removed from the local environment – with the initiative suggested by employees.

The plant processes used catalytic converters from motor vehicles to recover rare precious metals such as platinum, palladium and rhodium.

The facility employs 37 people and 25 took part in the litter picks, some more than once.

They recovered 32kgs of glass, 52kgs of plastic and 121kgs of general waste, making a total of 205kgs.

The company is also sending a report on items they could not recover to the Forest of Dean District Council.

Mayor of Cinderford Cllr Roger Sterry also gave his backing to the initiative.

Site manager, Bob Smallwood, said: “At BASF we have a strong duty of care, not just to our employees and customers but also to the environment and our neighbours.

“The employees on site came up with this initiative as part of a broader health and safety-related project.

“With plastic pollution being an increasingly global problem at the present time, it was appropriate to segregate this and demonstrate the large percentage of litter which is plastic-related.

“Our hope at BASF is that this goes some way towards people taking a more responsible attitude to creating litter.

“This is a beautiful area to both live and work: collecting over 200 kilos of litter from the close proximity of Forest Vale Road is not an admirable statistic for the area.”