The firm is set to install the British-made plant at its Old Crown Dye Works in Bradford at the end of April and will start processing fridges soon afterwards.
The plant is being manufactured by Clwyd Refrigeration Ltd of Conwy, North Wales and will have a capacity for reprocessing in excess of 400,000 units a year.
Stephen Hillas, a director of John Hornby & Son, said that the company was developing its activities in a number of areas beyond its traditional role as a metals recycler. “We are looking at the industry in the longer term and have had the machine designed with some flexibility. We are a progressive company and are also looking at electronics recycling and have several offshoots including waste transfer, bulk haulage and aggregates recycling.”
Tenders
Fridge recycling tenders are now starting to be issued by local authorities and several groups are approaching local authorities to win work. The lowest prices currently being quoted are reported to be about 14 per fridge, although questions are being asked as to whether Environment Agency standards will be met at this level.
Mr Hillas said that he expected costs to be in the order of 20-25 per fridge where the fridges are collected. Delivered fridges are likely to be taken in at a cheaper rate.
The machine is intended to meet the new regulations, which came into force in January this year, to prevent the escape of the CFC and HCFC gases from fridge insulation foam during disposal. The pollutant gasses are recognised as one of the biggest threats to the earth's protective ozone layer.
Standards for foam removal are thought to have been completed by the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and are likely to require polyurethane foam to contain less than 0.2% of CFC/HCFC by weight prior to disposal.
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Clwyd Refrigeration says that it believes its process to be the only one to date tested by DEFRA's approved Butterworth Laboratories in Teddington to achieve and exceed this level to a percentage of less than 0.1%, rendering the foam as inert waste.
Mr Hillas was particularly pleased that the equipment is British-made. “It has long been said by senior figures in Government and the waste disposal industry that Britain didn't have the technology to cope with this major challenge and that only Europe could provide the required technology. The fact that we're installing British innovation, which appears to be even more effective than other European processes, puts the icing on the cake.”
The End-of-Life Refrigerator Processing Plant was designed and developed by Gary Taylor, Clwyd Refrigeration development director, who said that the British approach to this major environmental challenge was of a very high technical and commercial standard. John Hornby and Sons can be contacted at: email, Stephen Hillas.
EMR
Meanwhile, the UK's biggest metals recycler European Metal Recycling is finalising its plans for its fridge recycling plants in the UK. One will be built at Willesden, London and other options could see fridge recycling units in Hartlepool and Liverpool as well as other locations.
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