The 12-month contract, which started on 1 April, will see 10,000 tonnes per annum of separated kerbside glass sent to Viridor’s Sheffield glass recycling facility. Kier will collect the material while Viridor will process and clean it.
Viridor Resource Management managing director, Keith Trower, said the company was “committed” to ensuring that no circular economy opportunities were missed. He said this is particularly important with glass with its “endless recycling potential”.
Mr Trower explained: “The material received at Viridor’s £12m Sheffield glass recycling facility is excellent quality and a testament to the efforts of the residents of Cheshire West and Chester and Kier’s professional collection strategy.
“The glass will be sent to Sheffield Glass for reprocessing into remelt quality cullet which is supplied to UK remelters, supporting the circular economy message which is so important to Viridor and its partners. ”
He continued: “Some of the glass will be supplied to Encirc, Elton (only five miles away from one of the collection depots in Ellesmere Port) which is excellent for optimising road freight and reducing our carbon footprint.”
End of waste
Viridor’s recycling and integrated assets managing director Paul Brown said the company was pleased to be developing a working relationship with the collection specialist.
He said Sheffield Glass achieved end of waste quality accreditation status for all glass cullet and glass aggregate products.
Sheffield Glass achieved end of waste quality accreditation status for all glass cullet and glass aggregate products
Paul Brown
Viridor
The facility has the capacity to recycle 160,000 tonnes of glass bottles and jars a year and has been recycling these into glass cullet quality since 2010, investing in new technology as part of a continuing focus on quality improvements.
In 2016, Viridor announced the completion of a £2 million investment at the facility in four advanced optical sorters, to identify items such as ceramics, stones and porcelain (CSP) and plastics (see letsrecycle.com story).
Kier currently holds the collections contract with the council. The contract is for eight years and began in 2012. The council previously held a glass recycling contract with URM.
Craig Cutajar, head of materials trading at Kier Environmental Services, said: “We are delighted to be working with Viridor to ensure that the high-quality recovered glass we produce through the great work carried out by Cheshire West and Chester’s residents and our operational team, is used for remelt purposes.”
Register for free to comment