HRH Princess Royal visits Berryman glass recycling plant

Princess Anne visited the new facility to see firsthand how waste glass is collected, cleaned and reprocessed for use in making new glass containers.

HRH Princess Anne with Jamie Brown, manager of the plant, to her right and David Currie, chief executive of Rockware Glass, to her left – talking to staff who work in the plant.

Operators Berryman Glass, owned by Australian firm Reuse, is the long-term partner of Rockware Glass, which has a glass manufacturing plant next door to Berryman's new reprocessing facility at Wheatley.

Berryman said the new plants was one of the world’s most advanced glass recycling facilities, and the only one of its type in the UK capable of processing both container glass and plate glass.

Impressed
Mick Keogh, Berryman’s general manager, said: “We welcomed the visit of Her Royal Highness, who, in common with many people not connected with the industry, was very impressed by what we have been able to achieve.”

Since its start-up late in 2004, the plant has mainly been dealing with clear glass (flint), with improvements made in all aspects of colour-sorting, colour-enhancement and ceramic removal systems.

Mr Keogh explained: “The investment we have made in this particular plant continues the twin objectives developed over the past five years to substantially increase the volume and quality of finished cullet specified by Rockware.

“We are well placed to exceed our 2005 target of 500,000 tonnes of glass collected nationwide and handled through our three Yorkshire plants in Knottingley, South Kirkby and Doncaster,” Mr Keogh added.

Pioneers
Berryman was one of the pioneers of kerbside collections of glass for recycling, but although its current work with local authorities is resulting in great success increasing tonnages collected from the kerbside, the company is advising councils to compare the pros and cons of colour separated or mixed collections before they make a final choice in their system.

Mr Keogh said: “Whilst recognising that the final choice of system will depend on local circumstances, we recommend that bottle banks remain part of the mix, and, as we have demonstrated with the End User Consortium, colour separated kerbside glass collections are very feasible.”

Economics
Now the new facilities are in place, Berryman is keen to ensure the economic climate is right for glass recycling, and is arguing for closer working between local authorities and those organisations affected by packaging producer responsibility.

“We require more long term stability to meet the targets that have been set, and our own commercial objectives,” Mr Keogh said. “To create the level playing field with the top performers in Europe we have to create a greater incentive for recycling as opposed to landfill, and that requires a review of landfill tax. I would also like to see local authority targets correlate more closely to the packaging waste obligations of businesses.”