The plant, on the Bellshill Industrial Estate, will process up to 50,000 tonnes-a-year of pallets, old furniture and other waste wood from local authorities, waste management companies, skip-hire firms and builders. In the first year, it is expected to handle around 27,000 tonnes, creating seven new jobs.
It is the third site to be developed by Timberpak, the wood recycling subsidiary of chipboard manufacturer Egger. Timberpak already runs sites of a similar size in Leeds (85,000tpa) and in Washington, Tyne and Wear (50,000tpa). The three-acre Bellshill site was bought at the same time as the Washington facility and was originally due to open over the summer (see letsrecycle.com story), but needed more work to bring it up to standard.
The plant is intended to provide a local source of recycled woodchip for Eggers chipboard factory at Barony in Ayrshire, 50 miles away. The plant uses recycled woodchip to make up 40% of its chipboard and Timberpak will provide 50% of this from the Bellshill site. The remaining 50% will come from other localwood recyclersas the company is keen not to alienate its long-term suppliers.
Regulations
This is a much closer site so it reduces transport miles and carbon and enables us to capture local wood, explained Mark Hayton, operations director at Timberpak. It enables us to work with local businesses, improve the environment by using material correctly and it is always good to be able to create jobs.
The site is currently operating under an exemption but Timberpak intends to apply for a licence in the first year.
The regulations are different in Scotland than they are in England, Mr Hayton explained. In England they are reducing the amount of material you can handle under an exemption. Our intention here is to go for a licence in the first year for up to 100,000 tpa.
At the Bellshill site, Timberpak has invested in a Doppstadt 3060 shredder and state-of-the-art machinery which emits fog to capture dust. Wood which comes onto the site is segregated in a yard before being loaded into a hopper and run along a conveyor into a warehouse.
Egger is keen to secure recycled woodchip through Timberpak becausecompetition for its two main raw materials recycled and virginwood is increasing with the development of more and more biomass facilities.
Waste wood
Last month, the chair of the Wood Panel Industries Federation the trade association representing chipboard manufacturers cited Timberpak as a good example of getting closer to the waste wood supply (see letsrecycle.com story)– something which other board mills are interested in doing. At present, Egger is the only chipboard manufacturer to have a wood recycling arm and be actively doing this.
Mr Hayton said: I think the other board mills are looking at what we have done because we have been very successful. The only real way of securing wood is to run a recycling site and to get as close to the supply as you can.
We are trying to promote the waste hierarchy and we should recycle where possible rather than recovery energy. We dont believe you should put material that can be recycled into biomass. We need to make the best use of or resources to prevent then disappearing. In Scotland they are at least ahead of other parts of the UK in terms of landfill bans that will be helpful and have an impact.
Opening the site, Mr Clarke, who is the MP for Coatbridge Chryston and Bellshill,said: I welcome such commercial developments at a time when we are all working so hard to increase recycling rates, reduce the amount of domestic and commercial waste going to landfill and make better use of wood. Scotlands forests are one of our most precious natural resources and while the political debate over burning wood for electricity generation continues, it is good to see a major player like Egger Timberpak investing to both create these new jobs and ensure the long-term future of the Barony factory.
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