SMART DESIGNS, SMART RECYCLING
Operational since September, Casepak’s state-of-the-art MRF in Leicester is part of a new generation of plant designed to maximise materials recovery. Nick Warburton took a tour of the facility
The MRF on the Braunstone Frith estate in
Leicester was officially opened in January INSET PICTURES: NICK WARBURTON
oversee the design and build of not one, but two state-of- the-art facilities, he joined Casepak in April 2011 after pre- viously project managing SCA Recycling’s MRF in Totton, Southampton (see feature on page 26).
“We were very fortunate that we could learn from the experience gained there in terms of the technology they installed,” he reflects. “I was seconded to the Casepak project while I was employed by SCA Recycling and this MRF is really an evolution of Southampton.”
Installation
Officially launched by the environment minister Lord Taylor of Holbeach in January, the facility, on the Braunstone Frith industrial estate, began operating in September after US supplier, Bulk Handling Systems, completed the installation of its sorting technology. The new MRF has the capacity to sort 150,000 tonnes of dry, mixed recyclables a year, including paper, card, plastics, metal and glass, which is all sourced from the municipal sector and mainly from four local authorities – Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council, Blaby District Council,
28 Local Authority Waste & Recycling March 2012
In the materials market A
s the man responsible for directing opera- tions at Casepak’s new materials recovery facility (MRF) in Leicester, Kevin Thomas feels privileged to have got where he is. One of the few industry operators to
Rutland District Council and most recently South Holland District Council, which announced a contract with Casepak in February 2012.
Casepak is fortunate that the original planning consent for the site allows the company to develop the facility in the future – up to a maximum capacity of 360,000 tonnes a year. That ceiling is a long way off, however, and Thomas’s first priority is to get the MRF bedded in and “working like a well-oiled machine”, as he puts it.
When the sorting technology first kicked into action, the MRF was processing about 30,000-35,000 tonnes of materials a year. Before Christmas, however, the company landed some valuable short-to-
the company landed some valuable short-to- medium-term contracts, which have doubled the volume.
Coming at the busy festive season, when municipal collections increase, Thomas has been extending the plant’s operating hours over the last few weeks. He estimates that the MRF is currently clearing around 1,500 tonnes per week with long-term growth planned in the second half of the year. Casepak is a family-owned business with its roots in paper recovery. Since founding in the 1970s, it has expanded the material streams in response to client needs. A sister plant in Enderby focuses on source-separated materials from the commercial and industrial sector.
Thomas has no illusions about the fierce competition that
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