About 70% – or 49,000 tonnes – of this waste, which cannot be put back into the paper-making process, will be recycled into sludge for farmland and just over 20,000 tonnes will go to landfill. The waste that is going to landfill will be that which is not good enough quality for land application, the company said.
Neil Martin, systems analyst at Neales explained: “The sludge is mixed with fertiliser and can make an excellent material for landspreading. Obviously all soil is different so we sometimes also need to add lime to create the right eco-balance.”
West Country-based Wyvern Waste has been subcontracted – via a 400,000 deal with Neales – to take a significant part of the waste destined for landfill. The company will dispose of 14,000 tonnes of the waste from mills in Somerset and Devon as an extension to its existing relationship with the mills.
Wyvern's director, Andrew Olie, said the company has worked closely with Neales over recent months to develop plans to improve methods of waste clearance at the sites at Watchet in West Somerset and Cullompton in Devon. “We've spend a lot of time learning about the workings of the mills and in partnership with Neales.
“Previously the waste was collected in small skips and required several trips to landfill, but we have now introduced a larger range of skips to make the process more effective.”
Onyx is also being subcontracted by Neales to landfill around 7,500 tonnes of the waste from the St Regis mill in Sudbrook in Monmouthshire.
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