The overband magnet, made by Master Magnets, was provided free of charge to Yorwaste by steel reprocessor Corus. The cost of the magnet, understood to be over 3,000, was covered by Corus PRNs.
Since it was installed at Yorwaste's materials recycling facility (MRF) at Hessay, near York, in autumn 2002, the magnet has seen the degree of metal separation improve and the sorting process become four times quicker. Yorwaste recycling manager John Miller said: “It's a more efficient machine and it has allowed can recycling to increase significantly. It has increased speed and separation quality.”
Yorwaste, which is owned jointly by North Yorkshire County Council and the City of York Council, opened the MRF in May 2002, but said efforts to separate dry recyclables had been hampered by inefficient collection facilities.
David Williams, commercial manager for Corus Steel Packaging Recycling, said: “We are all really pleased that the magnet has made such a big difference to the MRF's efficiency. We are looking forward to working with Yorwaste more in the future.”
Yorwaste processes about 100 tonnes of steel cans per year at present. This could almost double by the end of 2003 if plans go ahead to increase kerbside collections from 33,000 households to 53,000. After separation, steel from the plant is reprocessed by Corus, while Aluminium is reused by Alcan.
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