materials will be of agricultural and/or ecological benefit. Secondly, with a long history of involvement with farmers and landowners, ENVAR staff are able to broker reliable markets for such waste materials.
ENVAR works for a large number of paper mills. This helps to reduce waste to landfill and ensures that these materials are utilised in a responsible and sustainable manner.
Case Study – partnership with Severnside Recycling Severnside Recycling is the largest UK fibre recycler and one of the UK’s leading recycling and waste management companies, recovering around 1.9 million tonnes of material annually. A subsidiary of DS Smith plc, Severnside is working with ENVAR to tackle the 26,000 tonnes of waste material that is generated by St Regis’ Hollins Mill in Darwen, Lancashire.
St Regis is also a subsidiary of DS Smith. Operating four paper mills, the company produces around one million tonnes of 100% recycled paper per year. ENVAR has been working with Severnside Recycling, handling the waste from its mills for two years. Work at the Hollins Mill began in August 2010.
ENVAR’s role in the partnership with Severnside has been to evaluate recycling options for the mill’s paper sludge and crumb, and to ensure that the most sustainable option is adopted. A number of alternatives were considered, including incineration, land restoration, soil improvement and animal bedding. Of these, the latter three were considered to offer the greatest benefits.
The paper crumb from the mill is ideal as a bedding product because it has a low moisture content and no odour, offering livestock farmers a cost-effective and
sustainable alternative to intensively farmed straw. Furthermore, paper sludge contains useful plant nutrients and a high proportion of organic matter. It is also alkaline, which is beneficial to many agricultural soils.
Paper sludge can be used in restoration projects as an ingredient in manufactured soil. If trees are then grown on the site, these can be harvested at a later date for paper manufacture, offering a longer term closed loop recycling option.
ENVAR enjoys a high level of engagement with the farming community and this is particularly important in helping to secure local markets for the products of recycling, thereby helping to reduce road miles/CO2 emissions in line with the sustainability objectives of all stakeholders.
Soil science also plays an important role when paper sludge is utilised on agricultural land. This is because the physical and chemical attributes of land has to be matched with the properties of the recycled material. This is important because the Environment Agency has to be satisfied that the requirements of the EPR are being met.
In a post-recession climate, businesses need to be sustainable in every sense of the word. Sludge recycling is therefore a very attractive proposition as long as it is managed in a responsible manner.
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