The National Hard Hat Recycling Scheme recently celebrated three years in operation. It was introduced in November 2017, with the intention of providing a user-friendly method for old hard hats to bypass traditional waste disposal routes, thereby ensuring end-of-life hats could go directly into reprocessing.
The group behind the scheme, Yes Recycling, initially launched it as a scheme for the construction industry. This followed 6 months working with Berkeley Homes. The firm then built a bespoke recycling capability at its Buckinghamshire facility specifically to recycle hard hats. This built on its experience with developing new recycling methods for a range of everyday plastic items, including plastic banknotes, crisp packets, coffee cups and shop hangers.
Yes Recycling said hard hat recycling presented some unusual challenges, perhaps unsurprising with a product that has been designed to be difficult to destroy. But the group claims to have succeeded in finding a way to break the hats down and recover the precious plastics.
Since its inception the scheme has predominantly grown through word-of-mouth.It now boasts members from a disparate range of sectors, including transport, utilities, defence, wildlife conservation, tree-surgery, extreme sports and construction. Its membership is drawn from every corner of the UK and is growing daily.
Sally Marquis, a Technical Surveyor with Network Rail, shared her experience: “Recycling our hard hats through Yes Recycling has enabled us to support our Environmental Sustainability Strategy by reducing waste to landfill through the waste hierarchy. It is positive to see companies such as Yes Recycling investing in initiatives to support businesses in contributing to the circular economy.
“Maybe in the future, an old hard hat could be recycled into a new one and we fully support that process.”
Director of Yes Recycling, Omer Kutluoglu, said of the scheme, “When we launched it, we really didn’t know if the scheme would take off or not. But with the encouragement of Berkeley Homes, we gave it a go. I’m really glad we did. The response has been astonishing. We have been met with a wall of enthusiasm…and not just in the initial launch phase, but an enthusiasm sustained over the last three years.”
“The consistent growth and success of the scheme is testament to people across the UK determined to do the right thing, not just for themselves but for their companies and the environment.
Their enthusiasm and positivity is immensely uplifting. Behind every single membership lies unsung heroes making a difference.”
Since the scheme’s inception, members have sent in many thousands of hard hats. These are broken down and the different materials (including different polymer types) are separated and recovered. The recovered materials are then cleaned, filtered and re-made into new plastics ready to go back into British industry.
Omer continued, “One day we hope that we can make this a fully circular process, where the recycled material from the hard hats is put back directly into new ones.” But for now, he said, the group is happy to ensure all valuable raw material used in making hard hats “is properly recovered and fully recycled back into British manufacturing at end-of-life.”
For more information on the National Hard Hat Recycling Scheme, visit: www.yesrecycling.org/hard-hat-recycling
