EnviroCom opens UK's largest eWaste recycling plant

The UK's largest electrical waste processing facility has opened in Grantham this week, as rocketing sales of mobile phones, PCs and electronic appliances push existing recycling facilities to capacity.

The site, managed by Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) recycling specialist environCom, will have the capacity to process up to 100,000 tonnes of UK WEEE waste – just under 10 per cent of the total household WEEE waste collected in this country.

Demand for WEEE recycling in the UK has soared since the EU's WEEE directive came into effect in 2008, forcing IT manufacturers and importers to take responsibility for the safe recycling and disposal of their equipment, either by recycling it themselves or signing up to a compliance scheme run by a government-approved waste-handling firm.

The 10-acre environCom site is split into four separate plants, each specifically designed for different waste streams and treatment processes, and can process all forms of WEEE waste, including around 100 fridges, 100 TVs and 180 large domestic appliances every hour.

Company chief executive Joe Quigley said the company had invested £10m in state-of-the-art technology and equipment for the Grantham facility to take into account current and future requirements.

"Our recycling capacity is competitive with the biggest facilities in Europe and we intend to maintain our leading position as we roll out our expansion plans, which include the establishment of a footprint across the UK and then into Europe," Quigley said.

In October 2008 environCom signed a five-year contract with electrical retail giant DSG International plc, which includes 650 Curry's and PC World stores in the UK, as well as etailers Dixons.co.uk and Pixmania.co.uk. The DSGi customer take-back contract is the single largest WEEE contract in the UK.

Electrical and electronic equipment is the fastest growing waste stream in the UK, increasing by five per cent each year, according to figures from the Environment Agency. Over 1.2 million tonnes of electrical and electronic waste are produced by UK households every year, enough to fill Wembley Stadium six times over. Roughly the same amount is produced from non-household sources.

The IT industry has also been at the centre of frequent scandals over the disposal of eWaste, with numerous investigations highlighting how waste firms have illegally shipped old computers and phones to be dumped in scrap yards in the developing world.

A United Nations Environment Programme report last month warned that the practice is creating growing environmental problems in developing countries and called for a global crackdown on the illegal shipment of eWaste.

In November, the scale of the illegal waste export problem prompted Interpol to set up a dedicated group focusing on uncovering the links between organised crime and illegal waste exporters. The new Interpol Global Crime Group will be headed up by the UK's Environment Agency and supported by the US Environmental Protection Agency and the Dutch Environment Agency VROM.