Manufacturer invests £2.5m in a green wire alternative

A SHEFFIELD managing director has taken green initiatives for his wire manufacturing firm, into his own hands.

Peter Robinson, managing director at DR Baling, privately funded the £2.5m research and development project that led to a green alternative to steel wire which the firm says will “save the waste industry tens of millions of pounds.”

The alternative they have created, called PlasLOC is a heavy-duty, non-slip plastic wire which the firm says will take over the role of steel wire in the baling of waste.

DR Baling says it has the same properties as steel, and can be incinerated during the waste process. Currently, steel wire has to be removed from bales before incineration which significantly increases costs.

PlasLOC can be manufactured at 20% the cost of steel wire. It is being rolled out to DR Baling’s European customers and a launch into the American market is planned for 2016.

The manufacturer says it wants to “futureproof” the business with the R&D venture, produces 1000 tons of steel wire a month. 

DR Baling managing director Peter Robinson, said PlasLOC was born out of a need to diversify in the face of cheap foreign imports.

He said: “DR Baling has spent 50 years at the forefront of baling wire manufacture but it has become increasingly difficult to compete again subsidised foreign steel imports, notably from Spain.

“In order to secure the future of the business and safeguard jobs we innovated and the result is PlasLOC. I can see a day in the not too distant future when all our customers have switched from steel wire to PlasLOC.

“It has been a long journey to develop this product and ensuring the correct tensile.

“We’ve developed the plastic extrusion and downstream processes in-house and by applying expert knowledge we’ve developed a pioneering product with unique tensile, stretching, heating and coiling properties.”