Waste skip hire firm McGrath Brothers (Waste Control) Limited, based in Hackney, is building a facility in Barking which will process 21,000 tonnes of waste wood a year from local construction and demolition businesses into products such as equine bedding.
There was a shortage of facilities around London and someone had to take wood to the next stage
– David McGrath, McGrath Brothers (Waste Control) Ltd
The announcement comes after the company successfully bid for a £325,000 grant from the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) which will go towards the cost of new wood chipping and sorting machinery.
Planned for a site on the company's existing 10 acre transfer station, the facility is expected to be operational by March 2008. It will be one of only a handful of wood recycling facilities in the South East – and will take material from both Essex and East London.
David McGrath, managing director of the McGrath Brothers (Waste Control) Ltd, said: “There was a shortage of facilities around London and someone had to take wood to the next stage. As a result of this project, we will be able to recycle large amounts of waste wood that largely come from the construction industry.”
He explained: “We are developing new markets for the recycled products and will be focusing on high value added products such as surfacing and equine bedding.”
Added-value
Under the WRAP capital support programme, which focuses on giving financial support to business interested in producing added-value products from wood, WRAP has also allocated £345,000 to Northern Ireland firm Urban Forest Limited.
The company will use the money to expand and upgrade its existing wood recycling facility in Newry, County Down, which received money from WRAP at its inception (see letsrecycle.com story).
Investment will include air grading, fine screening and cleaning equipment to help produce more high-value products and will total £1.5 million.
The plant is expected to be capable of processing over 19,000 tonnes of waste wood a year when it is complete, by the same deadline of March 2008.
Patrick Durkan, managing director of Urban Forest Limited, said: “Financial support from WRAP has allowed us to develop our facilities further to automate the refinement of the animal bedding we produce.”
“Importantly, it has also enables us to expand into the more profitable area of domestic pet bedding, providing an even stronger business case for the use of recycled wood, ” he added.
Funding
Peter Maddox, WRAP's manufacturing development programme manager, who has helped to allocate the funding, explained that the two wood recycling initiatives would divert material form civic amenity sites and construction from landfill.
He said: “These two projects are excellent examples that demonstrate with the right facilities, waste wood can be put to good use and deliver significant returns.”
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