WRAP: New Mobile Plastics Shredder Receives WRAP Funding

A new project funded by WRAP, (the Waste & Resources Action Programme, www.wrap.org.uk), is aiming to increase plastics recycling capacity in the UK by trialling the shredding and collection of commercial and industrial rigid plastics using a mobile shredding unit.

Axion Recycling Ltd has received funding from WRAP to carry out the six-month trial, which will be launched in April and will target the significant quantities of rigid plastics, such as bakery trays and wheelie bins, which are currently difficult to recycle due to high transportation costs.

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At the moment, these bulky items take up a lot of space when transported and it is hoped that by shredding the plastics first, and thus saving this space, that collection and transport will be much more economical.

The trial will involve a mobile shredding unit being mounted on a curtain sided lorry. This unit will shred the plastics at customers’ premises and collect the shredded material in big bags ready for haulage.

The purpose of the project is to produce a definitive piece of work on commercial and industrial rigid plastics collection, processing techniques and costs and the practical and economic viability of the use of mobile granulation technology to process rigid plastics. In order to investigate this, the project will incorporate a full scale operation trial.

If the project is deemed commercially viable, Axion intend to continue with the service after the trial has ended.

On projected collection figures, Keith Freegard of Axion Recycling Ltd, said: “Based on the early feedback from the market place, we believe that shredding 600 tonnes of rigid plastic in the first six months is an attainable target. If we are able to prove this is a commercially viable process and continue with the service after the trial, this concept has the potential to divert a tremendous amount of rigid plastic from landfill.”

Paul Davidson, WRAP’s Material Sector Manager (plastic), said: “Traditionally these bulky items have been a no-go area for recycling because the transport costs were just not economically viable. We hope that this trial will demonstrate a feasible solution and provide reprocessors with additional plastics for recycling.”

WRAP - Waste & Resources Action Programme, Banbury, Great Britain

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