Manufacturer reaps rewards of £1m spend on recycling plant

Glass packaging manufacturer Beatson Clark is investing a further £1m in expanding its on-site recycling plant in South Yorkshire and installing new, more efficient equipment.

The company partnered with REDWAVE to complete a turnkey plant expansion which began operation last month.

Throughput at the recycling plant is expected to increase by an average of 50% over the year, and the project has created 12 full-time jobs which were previously contracted.

As part of the investment Beatson Clark has installed additional optical sorters, vibratory feeder conveyors, new screening machines and a new JCB telehandler.

Additional processing stages have been introduced using new vibrating screens and dedicated optical sorters, improving quality and reducing waste.

The latest equipment and the additional inspection stages have reduced the false rejects of glass which were removed with the CSP (Ceramics, Stones and Pottery) by over 50%, which in turn has increased the plant efficiency.

Patrick Pagdin, recycling plant manager at the business, said: “The addition of new optical sorters makes the process more precise and reduces the amount of good glass which gets rejected by the machines and sent to waste, thereby increasing the amount of quality cullet that can be used in the furnace.”

The company has also installed a 3,200 sq ft canopy to cover infeed material and protect it from inclement weather conditions. This will improve processing during the winter months as the material will remain relatively dry.

Colin Saysell, logistics and production planning manager, said: “Sustainability is an integral part of our philosophy as glass manufacturers. We are constantly looking at new ways in which we can reduce our carbon footprint and cut waste.

“Our new, improved capability for resorting recycled glass at source will reduce the transport miles generated through the supply chain and will give us greater control of the quality of our cullet.”

Glass comes into Beatson Clark’s recycling plant from the hospitality sector and from local authority kerbside collections of domestic glass.