Landfill Tax Project : WREN WarringtonFollowing development work with Warrington Borough Council and WREN over the last two years, Recoup have been awarded £87,000 to introduce and promote an innovative plastic bottle collection scheme in the borough of Warrington. This will use a new type of collection bank that allows users to compact the bottles at the point of deposit. The potential benefit of this approach is that it will increase the capacity of the banks and enhance the economics of recycling bottles through lower servicing charges. The technique has not been tried before in the UK and so will be able to generate more excellent PR for everyone involved by this novel approach as well as collecting more bottles and demonstrating improved economics. To release the grant from WREN the scheme partners funded 11% of the total grant value. Scheme partners for this project include Express Dairies, Arla Foods, Dairy Crest, Tetrapak, Plysu Liquid Foods, and Warrington Borough Council.

Background

 There were no facilities for communities in the Warrington area to recycle household plastic waste. RECOUP and Warrington have worked together to develop a project to provide a collection system for plastic bottles in the area. This programme will provide both a tangible benefit to the community by enabling them to recycle their plastic containers, and valuable research on the performance and economics of this new system which it is believed will reduce vehicle movements and costs associated with servicing plastic bottle collection banks. This information will be disseminated widely to inform waste management practices. The system will be unique in the UK because it will utilise collection banks with built in compaction systems. Users are able to squash their bottles when depositing them using the built in mechanism supplied by Plastic Omnium Urban Systems. It is estimated that this will significantly increase the number of bottles the bank can hold before a service is required and will make plastic bottle recycling increasingly affordable. The whole methodology is focused on lowering and documenting the costs of bottle recycling: if successfully demonstrated this work will enable a new level of operational cost-effectiveness and “best practice”. “We are delighted to be able to bring this new scheme to Warrington. Recycling and improving our environment is one of our key priorities and we are determined to make sure that this new scheme makes a positive difference to the way we recycle plastics.” Cllr John JoyceChair of the Council’s Environmental Committee

Aims of the Research The aim of the research is to secure and widely disseminate accurate logistic and economic data necessary to clearly demonstrate the economics of plastic bottle collection using this new system, and information highlighting the opportunities for further enhancements to the service. The specific objectives of the research are to be completed over the two year period to enable wide dissemination of the information at the end of the project. Early data on performance and costs will be evaluated within the first 6 months of the scheme and an interim briefing report produced. This unique collection system will reduce vehicle movements necessary to collect plastic bottles for recycling by compacting plastic bottles at the point of deposit. This will further increase the environmental benefit of plastic bottle recycling compared to use of virgin plastic and will decrease the cost of servicing plastic bottle collection facilities. By demonstrating the implementation of more cost-effective collection systems for plastic bottles, this will significantly increase the opportunities for communities around the UK to benefit from local plastics collection facilities. The reductions in servicing cost and environmental impact anticipated from this system will together contribute to more sustainable waste management practice. “The Warrington scheme is an exciting new venture and we are looking forward to monitoring the progress of it. We are expecting the scheme to perform particularly well in Warrington, as the number of letters and calls the Council receives regarding plastics recycling shows that residents are highly motivated in this area.” Stuart FosterProject Manager – Recoup 

Website : www.recoup.org

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