SITA UK opens new recycling centre in Dorset
A recycling centre which will play a key role in Dorset has begun operations in Poole.
SITA UK’s new Materials Recycling Facility (MRF) will handle up to 5,000 tonnes of cardboard and packaging every month, equivalent to the weight of 625 double-decker buses.
The packaging, which previously would have gone to landfill, is crushed and baled before going off-site for pulping and then recycling into new products including corrugated cardboard and tissue paper.
SITA UK has spent £1 million on the plant which takes cardboard and packaging from homes and businesses in Poole, Bournemouth, Christchurch, Weymouth and Portland.
The centre is launched as the UK gears up to meet tough new recovery and recycling targets from the European Union (EU) in the Packaging Waste Directive.
More than two thirds – 70 per cent – of packaging will have to be recovered from the end of this year onwards in order to comply with the business target set by ministers.
John Hubbard, Depot Manager, said the Dorset MRF had come on-stream at just the right time.
“Previously much of the cardboard went to landfill but, with the new pre-treatment regulations meaning businesses have to separate waste before sending it for disposal, that really is no longer an option,” he said.
Six new jobs look set to be created with the opening of the facility and SITA UK is predicting it will be fully up-to-speed within a few months.
Mr Hubbard said: “The MRF satisfies a real need in Dorset for recycling cardboard.
“SITA UK is looking to recycle and re-use as many products as possible from plastic bottles and tin cans through to glass and, now cardboard. Our new plant has a vital role to play.”
