Member Article

Specialist recycler aims to ‘plug’ market gap

UK Plug Recycling – a young venture which aims to further prevent the amount of electrical waste being landfilled – is one step closer to achieving its vision.

The Hampshire headquartered organisation has installed an UNTHA RS40 hard drive shredder to tackle plugs, sockets, small pieces of WEEE and other secure product destruction.

Capable of processing these ‘wastes’ down to a homogenous 15mm particle size, the technology can handle 1 tonne of material per hour.

Working predominantly with other waste companies who find the complexity of WEEE too great a headache, UK Plug Recycling buys materials that may otherwise be lost from the resource loop. They are then processed for specialist local recycling, within a 20-30 mile radius of the new facility.

Commenting on the firm’s progress to date, founder and managing director Justin Beverley said: “I first had the idea for UK Plug Recycling around six years ago, when I was working for another waste contractor. I identified that items like sockets and small-scale WEEE are commonly perceived as too much like hard work for many industry operators, so they simply end up in the ground. I therefore suggested that we offer a specialist service in that respect. Despite rigorous market research, my boss, at the time, didn’t believe the proposal was commercially viable.

“So, last year, I began exploring the opportunity myself. Fast forward to the spring of 2017 and I’d secured financial backing. I already knew the equipment I wanted for the operation, having visited UNTHA UK’s North Yorkshire headquarters and the Austrian manufacturing facility, when my research first began. Everything has moved quite quickly from there.”

Justin has worked with the UNTHA team to refine his shredding process and begin penetrating the market. Already looking ahead to ‘what’s next’, he is now on the lookout for additional downstream equipment that will further enhance the sophistication and revenue yield potential of this new line.

“We truly do have a ‘green’ agenda,” continued Justin. “We obviously need to make enough money to survive but this isn’t a ‘get rich quick’ scheme. It’s about harnessing the value of something that many other companies are overlooking, because it’s the right thing to do.

“UNTHA UK’s support from concept to installation – and beyond – has proven incredibly valuable as we’ve gathered traction.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Katie Mallinson .