The Electrical Appliance Recycling Programme (EARP) will see a number of organisations teaming up to collect and treat around 20,000 units a year at a central processing facility.
The project won 266,000 from DEFRA's 140m National Waste Minimisation and Recycling Fund, as well as limited funding from Peterborough city council. The EARP is also looking to gain funds from Landfill Tax credits and the European Regional Development Fund.
The new processing facility will include a shredder and two granulators, although the precise location is yet to be confirmed. The project will also require new vehicles, around seven permanent staff and five voluntary workers.
Funding
The service will initially take fridges, freezers, washing machines and computer equipment, and is intended to expand within three years to become self-financing. The 168,000 population is expected to account for around 10,000 units a year, leaving capacity spare for other local authorities to use the facility, after paying a gate fee for the service.
Once up and running, funds are also expected to come from the sale of recycled materials, and recycling credits. Funding could also come from a 'PRN'-style producer responsibility system of compliance evidence.
A 100,000 windfall is also expected from the members of the EARP group itself, which includes the Environment Agency, Peterborough City Council, Shanks Waste Services, Hewlett Packard, the Kingfisher Group and Learnwise among others. The plan is for the service to be self-financing within four years.
Around 6,500 tonnes of white goods is expected to be collected from 68,000 households by the EARP group.
“Units will be brought to the facility where they will be reconditioned for re-use, stripped down for parts or recovered,” explained Mike Brown, head of environmental management and public protection at Peterborough city council, which is co-ordinating the project. “We still have to trial different types of schemes collecting from retail outlets and households and to identify the costs fully.”
Costs
Local retailers, local waste collection authorities and the Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Waste Strategy Partnership are involved in the project as well, and current expectations are that costs are likely to be around 62 per tonne of material handled.
It is hoped that the new service will bring about a 5% increase in recycling rate in Peterborough. The city already has a household recycling rate nearing the 20% mark, and aims to reach 33% by 2003-04 and 60% by 2020 with a new strategy.
Valpak
Interest in the forthcoming WEEE restrictions is spreading rapidly, and it is known that a number of packaging waste compliance schemes are looking at possible opportunities in this area. Valpak, the UK's largest compliance scheme, has recently re-packaged itself more broadly as a “producer responsibility compliance scheme”, and there has been word of its interest in the EARP.
“They may decide to come on board,” Mr Brown told letsrecycle.com. “We are definitely interested in what they could bring to the table.”
Valpak already has a long-standing relationship with the Peterborough Recycling Cell Partnership, where it is involved in the collection of glass packaging (see letsrecycle.com story).
Subscribe for free