GUERNSEY’S largest independent waste recycling business, Island Waste, is the first to process and ship RDF off island, following the installation of a new twin ram baler and conveyor solution from Middleton Engineering. With the only landfill site at Mont Cuet expected to close in 18 months, baling and exporting the island’s rubbish for re-use is now key to Guernsey’s waste strategy.
Island Waste currently diverts over 12,000 tonnes of rubbish from landfill each year, achieving an 80% recovery rate for recyclables. The new baler, which incorporates a specially developed dual tying head, with both steel wire and plastic strapping options, will increase capacity and throughput at the company’s MRF in St Andrews, and for the first time enable the remaining 20% of material to be baled as RDF and diverted from landfill.
Baled RDF must be tied using plastic strapping to satisfy the requirements of downstream processors. The dual tying head enables rapid switching from one waste stream to another, with the additional advantage that plastic strapping is some 40% cheaper than steel wire and more environmentally friendly.
Dan Hubert, Managing Director Island Waste explains: “The Middleton Engineering dual tying head puts us ahead of the game with the flexibility to bale RDF for the first time and take advantage of plastic strapping, which is significantly cheaper than steel wire. Switching waste streams is extremely rapid with near zero downtime.”
The new Middleton Engineering ME80F twin ram baler is able to produce extremely dense and uniform bales optimised for transportation and with ideal compaction for RDF. Destined eventually for Dutch incinerators, the bales are first wrapped for improved storage and handling and then shipped utilising empty capacity on curtainsider trailers returning to the UK mainland. A ‘win win’ for the island according Dan Hubert.
Middleton Engineering has designed, manufactured and installed a complete solution for Island Waste, with two feed conveyors for the baler including a bunker discharge conveyor to overcome space limitations. The baler joins an existing Middleton ME70 semi-automatic baler in use since 2007.
“Three months in the machine is spot on. Delivery to the island, installation and commissioning all went extremely well and to agreed timeframes.
Middletons took the time to understand our needs and its back-up service and spares, based on current experience with our existing machine,, is second to none,” Dan Hubert added.
