A MeWa plant capable of processing both refrigerators and waste from electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) has been commissioned at Shore Recycling Ltd of Perth, Central Scotland.
The new machine, which boasts a 2.5-metre QZ frag chamber, cost approaching £5 million (€ 7 million) and brings investment on site over the last four years to around £10 million. In 2004, for example, Shore Recycling installed a cathode ray tube splitting plant for recovering both leaded and unleaded glass from obsolete televisions and computers. Managing Director Malcolm Todd commented: ‘This is one of the most integrated sites in the UK.’
Replacing a smaller plant designed to process solely fridges, the new MeWa unit can handle up to 800 000 fridges or 80 000 tonnes of WEEE per year - or a proportion of both these streams. At present, Shore Recycling is processing between 300 000 and 400 000 refrigerators per annum and a small quantity of WEEE. Noting that many councils are awaiting the final implementation of EU regulations before settling on their arrangements for WEEE, he added: “We have invested ahead.”
Shore Recycling has used fridge contracts with the majority of Scotland’s local authorities and is already taking WEEE from several of the country’s councils. The company is also drawing feedstock from a number of councils in England following its acquisition last August of a collection/bulk-up facility in Manchester.
