The new MRF at Seamer Carr will be able to recycle 30,000 tonnes of dry recyclables a year, with a further 10,000 tonnes of green waste composted at a nearby plant.
In June 2003, Scarborough borough council awarded a ten-year recycling contract to Yorwaste to handle materials from the council's twin bin kerbside collection schemes as well as glass from its bring banks. The contract has now developed further so that the MRF will be run on a partnership basis between Yorwaste and Scarborough with an agreement to share risk and income from the sale of materials.
The council already collects green waste in biodegradable bags on a fortnightly basis from over 32,000 households and plans to cover over 30,000 households with a collection of newsprint, plastic bottles, cans and cardboard. It is hoped the collections will help raise Scarborough's recycling rate from 9.33% in 2002-03 to meets its targets of 12% by 2003-04 and 18% for 2005-06.
At the opening of the new facility, Yorwaste's managing director Steve Grieve said: “We are delighted that the MRF has now been officially opened and that so many people could see for themselves the environmental benefits it brings. The kerbside collection scheme is now well underway in Scarborough and having a MRF on the doorstep will play a major role in helping the council to meet its recycling targets.”
Proximity
John Miller, recycling manager at Yorwaste, told letsrecycle.com that the Nothallerton-based waste management company feels it is important to sort Scarborough's materials locally and find markets for them as locally as possible. “We are trying to utilise the proximity principle as much as we can,” he said, “One hundred and twenty miles is our furthest reprocessor, for the paper going to Shotton.”
As well as newsprint going to the UPM Kymenne plant at Shotton in North Wales, glass processed by the MRF will be going to Glass Recycling UK in Barnsley, aluminium cans to Alcan in Warrington, steel cans to Corus in Redcar and cardboard will be taken to Sonoco in Halifax. Mr Miller said that Yorwaste is still looking for a UK outlet for the plastic bottles and is considering the option of sorting them into polymer type at the Seamer Carr MRF.
He added that in addition to the council's household recyclables, Yorwaste is looking to process materials, in particular cardboard and office paper, from commercial sources at the MRF.
Equipment for the MRF was supplied or sourced by Middleton Engineering which installed a Presona baler.
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