Recycling Firm Saves Fuel, Transport Costs with Baler

UK waste management company W&S Recycling Services based in Poole, Dorset, has installed a twin-ram baler from Middleton Engineering as part of an effort to recycle rigid plastics from household waste recycling centers and commercial customers across Dorset.

The company, which provides waste management services to the Dorset Waste Partnership, Bournemouth Borough Council, Oxfordshire County Council and commercial customers nationally, already manages a wide range of waste streams with the goal to maximize recycling and minimize waste to landfill.

The ME2R100 from Middleton Engineering now installed at the company’s recycling depot in Hurn, Christchurch, will make it easier to bale and recycle a range of hard plastics such as PP, PE and PVC waste, including toys, crates and garden furniture, a commodity that has traditionally gone straight to landfill.

The service has been rolled out to three household waste recovery centers in Dorset and W&S expects to be processing between 1,200 and 1,500 metric tons of rigid plastics a year when commissioning and testing is completed and all 12 centers are included in the program.

The twin-ram baler delivers a press force of 100 metric tons and is suited to dealing with hard plastics, enabling W&S Recycling operators to produce compact and dense bales. This also reduces transportation costs.

Andy Tyers, W&S operations manager, says transporting loose material is expensive and limits the trucks to no more than 3 metric tons per load. The new baler, however, will allow the company to get between 19 and 20 metric tons per truckload, providing fuel, transport and handling cost savings.

In June, St Helier Municipal Services in Jersey, Channel Islands, began increasing its recycling capacity for commercial and residential waste by upgrading its baling operation with a horizontal baler and feed conveyor from Middleton Engineering.