After an investigation found large levels of POPs in seating textiles and foams, the Environment Agency issued instructions that waste upholstered domestic seating must be sent for incineration rather than landfill and cannot be mixed with non-POPs waste (see letsrecycle.com story).
Beaparc’s Gelderd Road facility was commissioned in 2011 and previously managed dry mixed recycling from customers within Yorkshire.
The site is permitted to manage 200,000 tonnes of waste per annum, but Beauparc says it now envisages it processing 25,000 tonnes a year, due to the nature of the material it will accept from today (16 January).
A spokesperson for Beauparc told letsrecycle.com: “With a developed regional infrastructure of other processing facilities within the group, the transfer of the current waste input streams to other sites was achievable, enabling continuity for all customers and the development of this initiative.”
Established in Ireland in 1990, Beauparc employs more than 3,000 people and its portfolio of brands includes Panda, WSR Recycling, AWM, Mid-UK Recycling LSS Waste and B&M Waste, among others.
Gelderd Road
Beauparc told letsrecycle.com the Gelderd Road site’s processing hall was fully sealed and already had the necessary air filtration equipment as part of its environmental management system.
At the facility, twin line shredders will process loads and onsite balers will wrap and make the material ready to be transported to thermal offtake within the region.
Beauparc says it will bulk material from other facilities within its group, which include sites in Lincolnshire, Widnes, Peterborough, Birmingham and Liverpool, alongside others in Leeds.
The company’s public sector and third party customer base has already shown “significant interest” in the POPs operation, Beauparc says.
Beauparc has also developed a “knowledge hub” to help educate its customers about the legislation. All Beauparcs’s customers will receive advisory communications, the company says, “helping them understand how the business is working to ensure their waste is managed compliantly.”
POPs
The Beauparc spokesperson told letsrecycle.com: “POPs exist in many chemicals that have historically been used to treat products that are present in most households and workplaces.
“POPs pose a particular hazard because of four characteristics: they are toxic; they are persistent, resisting normal processes that break down contaminants; they accumulate in the body fat of people, marine mammals, and other animals, and therefore have harmful impacts on human health and on the environment.”
The response to the Agency’s new rules has been mixed at best. While there is recognition throughout the sector that POPs and toxic and must be handled carefully, there are concerns about increased disposal costs.
The Charity Retail Association told letsrecycle.com that, while some waste contractors were holding prices, others were proposing price increases of between 50% and 200% or imposing minimum fees or a surcharge per item (see letsrecycle.com story).
And, the National Association of Waste Disposal Officers, the primary network for councils with the statutory responsibility for waste disposal, says some prices for managing waste upholstered domestic seating now exceed £200 per tonne (see letsrecycle.com story)
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