"Greenstar’s investment in north London comes at a critical time. It is really significant for the capital as there is a serious shortage of local MRF capacity"
Ian Wakelin, CEO of Greenstar UK
London: Greenstar UK announced today that it is to build one of the capital’s largest materials recycling facilities (MRFs) which has the capacity to process nearly 10% of north London’s waste. The company has acquired the huge Atlas warehouse building (175000 sq ft), which is located on a nine acre site adjacent to the Edmonton waste incinerator.
The circa £18 million deal is Greenstar’s largest strategic investment to date in developing its national MRF infrastructure and the company says it aims to be the first fully integrated, end-to-end recycling service provider in the UK.
The Greenstar Atlas site is licensed to process up to 250,000 tonnes of recyclables annually through its MRF, as well as for handling a further 250,000 tonnes annually through its waste transfer station, according to the company.
The waste transfer station is due to be commissioned in November closely followed by the MRF, which should be fully operational by July 2009.
The facility's design and technology will enable the high quality processing of co-mingled or source-separated dry recyclables, both domestic and commercial, according to Greenstar, though the company advocates co-mingled recyclable collection - "though not exclusively" - on the grounds that it is more cost-effective than other collection systems, it is very easy to use, and "is proven to increase recycling in both domestic and commercial situations".
Other schools of thought have considered source separated materials, e.g. through kerbside sorting of household recyclables, to be a preferred method to co-mingled collections and there has been much recent debate on this topic.
Ian Wakelin, CEO of Greenstar UK, said:
“Greenstar’s investment in north London comes at a critical time. It is really significant for the capital as there is a serious shortage of local MRF capacity. Our new facility is right in the heartland served by the North London Waste Authority which acts on behalf of seven London local authorities, and will go a long way to providing the recyclable processing and waste bulking requirements of the area.”
Greenstar UK has been expanding its operations and in March, the company acquired the Dunstable-based Firbank Chiltern waste and recycling business which included a local MRF and waste transfer station. Last November, the NTR-owned company bought Verdant Group Plc, the privately-owned municipal services contractor with a portfolio of 24 local authority customers in England, Scotland and Wales, and commercial operations have started at its new Aldridge MRF in Walsall which will process up to 300,000 tonnes of co-mingled and separated recyclables annually, says Greenstar.