The MRF is part of Grosvenor Waste Management’s expanding operations at Crayford and has the support of the London Remade organisation which is helping to develop a range of projects in the capital.
The MRF, which will be fully operational in the autumn of 2003, will be one of the largest in the south of England with a processing capacity of 100,000 tonnes per annum and will be capable of handling any mix of the core recyclable materials.
London Remade’s contribution towards the 5 million project comes in the form of 440,000 funding for training and improved paper sorting, using an optical sorter. This is part of its strategy to increase processing and reprocessing capacity for recyclables in London, utilising regeneration funding supplied by the London Development Agency.
Contracts
Grosvenor already has a sorting line for mixed material and has contractual arrangements with a range of authorities including Hammersmith & Fulham, Wandsworth and Kensington & Chelsea. It takes in mixed paper from Lewisham and Bexley, as well as Westminster through Onyx. A number of other authorities also send recyclables to the company.
 Grosvenor project, manager Lee Tremain (left) with London Remade's John Enright at the MRF which is rapidly taking shape. |
Contracts manager Claire Pitts said the firm is seeing growing interest in the sorting facilities. “We have designed these so they are flexible and adaptable to different local authority and contractor requirements. We will offer fixed or variable gate fees to suit the individual customers. We can offer a service to local authorities if they want their waste paper sorted separately and we will be able to sort mixed collections with or without glass.”
And, she emphasised that the use of technology is important. “We will still have about 12 people working on sorting on the belts but we want to use technology where possible.”
The plant will be able to take any of the materials from: newspapers and magazines, cardboard, mixed papers, aluminium and steel cans, HDPE and PET bottles, glass containers and textiles.
Material can be supplied mixed or in bags with an additional charge levied for bag splitting.
Three stream
Grosvenor Project manager Lee Tremain explained that the MRF operates on a three stream system.
“One stream is for the paper content, the second removes the paper content from co-mingled material and the third stream separates the cans, glass, plastic bottles and textiles.”
Installation is currently nearing completion with full trials to start by the end of July. Comingled material is already being taken and sorting has started. MRF construction has been project managed by CD Engineering of Telford, with equipment sourced from the US and Germany. Materials pass up a conveyor to a trommel where the papers are planed off onto a separate belt where they are sorted. This is where the London Remade investment comes in.
The optical sorter allows the recovered paper to be sorted into three grades to be sorted for different mill users who are partners in this aspect of the MRF. Smurfit will be taking the mixed fibres, Aylesford Newsprint the recovered newspapers and magazines and M-Real office grades.
The other materials pass through the trommel and what is described as a ballsic separator alongside a star screen. This separates out the glass and fines with eddy-current separators and magnets removing the different cans.
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