Burton-based Willshee’s Waste & Recycling has opened the Midlands’ most advanced recycling facility following a £10-million investment into the project.
Willshee’s is a privately-owned company which offers a total waste management service. The new plant, based in Swadlincote, Derbyshire, will operate as a Materials Recycling Facility [MRF] and will deal with waste that has been collected in unsegregated containers.
The new facility will also provide customers with a fully traceable guarantee of zero waste to landfill, with the added reassurance that the optimum level of environmentally beneficial measures is in place.
The plant will also be powered by solar energy, with any excess power being sold back to the national grid.
Managing director Dean Willshee commented: “Opening this new site is a huge step forward for our company in terms of technology, efficiency and also the environment.
“This state-of-the-art equipment produces over a third more material that can be reused versus other plants, extracting wood, soil, plastic, metal and rubble from general waste. With a process involving three stages of shredding and a sophisticated system of shredding, screening, air separation, magnets, and near-infrared technology, we are able to extract every last piece of recyclable material.
“What is left over, is then made into Solid Recovered Fuel [SRF] which is then used by manufacturers. Cement works will use SRF in their kilns, for example. The other great thing about SRF is that it is already carbon offset, creating more environmentally friendly energy from waste.”
Conservative MP for South Derbyshire, Heather Wheeler, said: “I was delighted to support Willshee’s with their bid to open up this state-of-the-art commercial collection and recycling centre. It was a perfect venue, re-purposing an old railhead. Everyone is so alive to the need to recycle nowadays and this is as important for businesses as it is for our homes. Now that it has opened, I wish them every success with this venture.”
