Zero Waste to Landfill business boosts RDF capabilities with UNTHA shredder

A third-generation family-run business that achieved Zero Waste to Landfill over thirteen years ago, has further boosted its commitment to the environment with an RDF shredder from UNTHA.

Based in Staffordshire, briers has had a genuine eco conscience since it was established exactly 80 years ago back in 1939 by William Briers. But as the forty strong team continues to handle even more commercial and industrial (C&I) waste – as well as dry mixed recycling (DMR) plus other heavy materials – an alternative fuel production system was sought to strengthen the company’s efficiency and waste handling capabilities.

Following extensive on-site trials using briers’ own materials, the UNTHA XR2000C will now process 12,000 tonnes of waste per annum, to produce a homogenous <300mm RDF (refuse derived fuel) for export.

Commenting on briers’ evolving waste strategy, operations manager Simon Rooke said: “Our ‘off-takers’ quality specifications are – quite rightly – extremely stringent. Gone are the days when the industry will accept below-par materials and, as a business, we don’t believe in doing anything unless we can strive towards best environmental practice – it’s in our genes.

“We therefore worked with UNTHA to understand how we could regulate the quality of our output fuel and maximise the density of our RDF bales in the process. We now have a rigorous and cost-effective system capable of comfortably handling up to 25 tonnes of waste per hour with our current configuration.

“We’ve been impressed with the machine’s uptime, in a large part due to its foreign object protection capabilities.”

Having recently achieved ISO14001 certification for its commitment to the environment, briers was quick to showcase the low power consumption of the UNTHA XR during the audit inspection.

“Waste shredders can often be diesel hungry,” continued Simon. “However, the XR with its electric drive, typically consumes 50% less energy than competitor machines. This is an important consideration for any organisation investing in new waste handling technologies – if the fuel consumption of the shredder is not carefully analysed pre-investment, ongoing running costs will soon rocket and the net environmental gain of the process, will be minimal.”

The UNTHA XR machine was also complimented with an UNTHA automatic fire suppression system following consultation with their insurance company, ensuring an immediate reaction to any fire.

The new shredder has been installed within briers’ existing Material Recovery Facility and belts, therefore it can shred directly to a baler or to the MRF, allowing further magnetic extraction, material size reduction, optical sorting or hand picking.

briers has also found other business opportunities from the new UNTHA XR machine, including the size reduction of paper, cardboard and plastics which has also aided to achieving a denser bale.