Casepak – which is jointly owned by G.A.E Smith (Holdings) Limited and SCA Recycling UK Ltd – will have the capacity at the Leicester MRF to sort and separate dry mixed recyclables at 26 tonnes per hour with an annual process capacity of 150,000 tonnes per annum.
The new MRF uses equipment from US firm Bulk Handling Systems. The facility will complement the existing SCA materials recycling facility in Southampton, allowing the two businesses to operate sorting services for large parts of England.
Casepak said that the Leicester MRF, near junction 21 of the M1, is designed to capture a minimum of 95% of the materials processed as a resource while maximising the purity levels of the end product.
The company explained: The MRF has three key features which will deliver these purity levels, ensuring the end materials reach the quality standards requested by reprocessors: a 50-100 mm bypass screen which recognises and separates highly compacted materials; a de-inking screen which recognises and separates fibre grades; and the capability to increase manual intervention and quality inspections at key stages, over and the above the industry standard dependant on the material delivered.
Bespoke design
Commenting on the MRFs opening, Kevin Thomas, director of MRF operations, said: This is a landmark day for Casepak. Our new MRF is completely bespoke in design and has been developed to meet the demands of changing collection systems at the same time ensuring we produce a quality end product.
This is not a waste treatment facility its a production process for essential materials and, as with any production process, quality is the key. Our system is based on a combination of robust screen and optical sorting technology to achieve the best possible quality output.
Mr Thomas added: Our 50-100mm bypass screen also sets us apart, he said. We are the first MRF to import this technology from the USA. It ensures that items such as small plastic bottles and yoghurt pots that are easily squashed during the collection process are identified and separated, ensuring that they are recovered and retain their resource value.
Casepak has already won contracts to process materials at the MRF from Blaby district council, Walsall metropolitan borough council and Rutland county council.
SCA Recycling
Simon Barnes, business development director of SCA Recycling, told letsrecycle.com that the development of the Leicester MRF would help SCA Recycling to strengthen its position in the municipal marketplace.
The company, which is part of paper giant SCA which largely focuses on tissue products, intends to look at the urban forest to extract paper grades, said Mr Barnes, and the Leicester facility will add to Casepak and our service.
In the face of some paper industry criticism of MRF paper quality, Mr Barnes accepted that the development of MRFs by the company was a big step for SCA. We have argued at European levels that the quality of material will be acceptable and we have to prove this. We didnt want to degrade the name of SCA by taking in poor materials. We have invested in top quality equipment, for example, spending 250,000 at the MRF so it can handle plastic bags.
RDF export
Mr Barnes said that SCA Recycling is keen to handle as much mixed recyclables as possible. And, the company also has a ready market for the residual waste from MRFs which can be used as a refuse-derived fuel for which it has recently won Environment Agency approval to export. The fuel is to go to Sweden on the companys own ships which deliver paper reels and products to the UK for use at the Sundsvall energy plant operated by SCA which serves one of its paper mills nearby.
On the municipal side SCA Recycling has a number of councils using its MRFs, including Monmouth, Plymouth and Cardiff. And, Mr Barnes is keen to expand that number as well as increasing the number of MRFs it operates to four or five.
However, he agreed that there is a need to win more contracts and said that for SCA Recycling the company can provide a very strong case in terms of both price and quality for council tenders. For us quality is a range of issues, including how you inspect the material coming in, safety aspects, legal points and financial stability.
He argues that councils can benefit from putting contracts out to tender more often. It is possible now because of cuts in staffing numbers and fears of extra costs that there will be more periods of extensions for existing contracts. I would say to councils that some tenders are over-engineered. We have to ask, is there a better way of doing things? Is there less of a workload achievable for the local authority and is there a quicker way to test the market?
SCA Recycling will work with contractors, he added, including Serco and Enterprise.
Subscribe for free