“Nationally significant” boost for glass sorting

Midlands firm Recresco has established the new glass processing facility at Ellesmere Port in Cheshire, to allow the company to sort mixed glass from kerbside collections into clear, amber and green glass simultaneously.

Recresco director Tim Gent with the new glass sorting system at the Ellesmere Port facility

The new plant is based on magnetic separation systems (MSS) technology along with a Powerscreen triple deck grader, a Redox air separator and an Atherton feed hopper and conveyors.

Company director Tim Gent said the new facility will support Recresco's vision of producing “99% pure-recycled coloured glass in commercial quantities”.

He added: “Encouraging the UK market to use more recycled materials and developing new markets for them is a key aim for us.”

WRAP – the Waste and Resources Action Programme – has invested 500,000 in the project through its eQuip assets finance scheme. The government-funded recycling development organisation said it recognised the investment as “nationally significant” in boosting domestic uses for recycled glass.

It said of the project: “It provides a means of diverting low-value mixed-glass from the export market by separating clear, amber and green glass, and producing high-value glass cullet for use in the UK.”

Mr Gent said the plant was needed to keep up with the increasing number of local authorities running glass recycling collections.

“The increase in kerbside collections means we are being asked to process more and more mixed glass and we have to keep up with demand,” he said, telling letsrecycle.com that last year Recresco processed 200,000 tonnes of mixed glass and this year it expects to hit the quarter of a million mark.

The new Ellesmere Port facility should allow Recresco to recycle 250,000 tonnes of glass this year, the firm believes

eQuip
The latest investment in new equipment brings the money secured by Recresco through the eQuip Residual Value Guarantee scheme to 1 million.

The scheme helps recyclers secure finance by guaranteeing the future residual value of leased recycling equipment.

Two years ago, Recresco secured a 300,000 deal with Bank of Scotland Corporate (see letsrecycle.com story). It purchased two glass separators, a plastic baler and a colour glass pre-sorter, and this was the first time that MSS colour sorting technology was used in the UK.

A spokeswoman for WRAP told letsrecycle.com that the project demonstrated that recycling companies that have already benefited from the eQuip scheme were able to return to the scheme for support with additional projects.