SMART DESIGNS, SMART RECYCLING
We decided that to secure fibre or paper going forward we needed to access post- consumer material coming out of houses and shops. We call it the urban forest
“ ”
There is, however, another market emerging for SCA. “Traditionally local authorities have kept collections and recycling as two separate contracts,” explains Barnes. “But now we are starting to see companies like Serco and Enterprise offer councils a one-stop-shop in terms of gar- den maintenance, street cleaning, waste management and the whole package of services. We work with people like Enterprise, they win the contract with a local authority, then we have a separate contract with them.” The plant currently receives 80 large lorry loads daily or around 2,000 tonnes a week of dry mixed recyclables from councils as far away as Monmouth in south-east Wales and the West Midlands. With a mixture of hand sorting, mag- nets, screens, separators and infra red technology the waste
moves through the 11,600m2 plant on conveyor belts getting sorted as it goes. The plant has the capacity to run 24 hours a day, seven days a week extracting 17 recyclable products out of the waste stream.
Barnes is bullish about the future recyclables market. Despite a dramatic 80% drop in prices in 2008 and a recent 20% drop due to economic uncertainty, the past few years have seen an overall price rise, boosted by rising oil prices. “If by recycling a tonne of aluminium you save 90% of the energy costs as the oil price goes up, you are going to want to get more recycled material,” he explains. Of course, not everything that comes through the plant can be recycled. SCA staff never cease to be amazed by what people think can be recycled. To date the weirdest things to enter the plant’s gates have been a gun and a grenade.
Stuart Spear is a freelance journalist
March 2012 Local Authority Waste & Recycling
27
PICTURE: STUART SPEAR
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56