5 million MRF opens in Leeds

Built and installed by Leicestershire-based firm O Kay Engineering, the plant is one of the only sites in the country with a ballistic separator, which sorts materials by “bouncing” them along a series of tiers, separating them by density.

The plant also contains a bag opener, trommel, magnet and eddy current separator, picking cabins conveyors and a baler supplied by technology firm Nicholls Jovisa Ltd.

HW Martin's director Mark Faulconbridge said: “We looked at literally dozens of facilities to ascertain the best way of achieving a quality product. The result is a MRF that utilises current technologies in our own unique configuration to precise specifications, enabling it to handle higher throughput while delivering an excellent quality of sorted material.”

City

In Leeds, the city council collects paper, card, plastic and cans at the kerbside and sends the “vast majority” under an ongoing contract with H W Martin. The company used to send the material to a MRF owned by Transcycle Ltd in Derbyshire, but now the new plant provides a local solution.

Stephen Holmes, waste contracts manager at the council, explained: “Having a local facility here in Leeds is great. We always stipulate proximity in our contracts and some of the materials can now be delivered directly to the MRF.”

Mr Holmes added that Leeds city council- which has a 25% recycling rate and is one of the highest-performing metropolitan councils for recycling in the UK- was considering collecting glass in with the commingled collections.

“We want to collect glass and we are looking at the feasibility, and HW Martin are looking at how they might process it in the MRF,” he said.

Contracts

To maintain its high recycling record, Leeds city council is also looking to procure two contracts for the treatment of its residual waste.

At present, the city creates about 339,000 tonnes of waste a year and the majority is sent to landfill through contracts with Biffa and Yorwaste.

Mr Holmes said: “The landfill contracts run until 2009/2010 after which we will be looking for an interim arrangement to meet our LATS requirements. We will be looking for a long-term contract from around 2014 and are interested in new technology to capture as much value from waste as possible but this has not been decided yet.”

Leeds' waste contracts manager explained that the council was currently applying for funding under the government's Private Finance Initiative. “We are still waiting for approval,” he said.