The spirit and theme of the forthcoming Doncaster Resource Recovery Week has certainly been captured by Rockware Glass. The company’s new cullet treatment plant is nearing completion at the Wheatley site and will be fully operational later in the summer when 30 jobs will have been created.
The multi-million pound plant, built and operated by Rockware’s long term recycling partner Berryman Glass, is believed to be one of the most modern and advanced of its type in the world. It will take bottles and jars collected from bottle banks and doorstep collections in Doncaster and elsewhere in the UK and, through a very sophisticated system of detection and separation, produce the high quality cullet that can be used in the glass making process at Rockware’s factory in Wheatley.
In so doing, Rockware will greatly increase its usage of recycled material, and also save energy. Rockware and Berryman has been successfully operating a similar plant in nearby Knottingley for nearly four years, and this latest investment will help the company to both maintain its position in the highly competitive packaging industry and exceed its recycling targets. Berryman is also working with the borough and various community groups to increase the volume of glass bottles and jars that are recycled in the district.
“Resource Recovery Week is a very timely opportunity for us to share our environmental achievements with the local community and explain the purpose of the investment we are making in world class recycling technology,” says Malcolm Vernon, Rockware’s director of logistics. “We are very proud of our new facility at Wheatley and plan to add an information centre in the near future so that local groups and people can see for themselves why it is so important to collect and recycle used glass bottles and jars.”