SR Recycling provides free service

A company in South Yorkshire recently launched a new recycling service for businesses, claiming to be able to efficiently recycle almost all of the waste it collects, including electronics and electrical items, for free.

Barnsley-based SR Recycling has been in the business for over 35 years and aims to recycle 99 per cent of the waste it collects.

The company was inspired by Japanese recycling techniques which use disassembly lines in order to separate waste. In the UK, a process called granulation occurs which makes it difficult and expensive to recover waste.

According to SR Recycling, many of the chemical and metals used in equipment they pick up is both toxic and highly valuable, making it an interesting challenge.

Simon Robinson, SR Recycling managing director, explained that the company’s approach involves paring every item down to its smallest component parts in order to maximize their return on the items. As a result, they can offer the service to customers for free.

“Businesses struggle to deal with the raft of legislation around waste but we make it easy and cost effective for them. We make our profit from the waste not the customer,” he said.

“We will collect the material and provide evidence of its disposal. The report we give to the customer can be used to show how green the business is and it does not cost them a penny unless there are specific items to collect.”

The company aims to process a tonne of waste a day by the end of the month and 30 tonnes a day by the end of the year. To that end, SR Recycling is collecting waste from business parks and universities.

Matt Walker, co-ordinator of South Yorkshire Green Business Club is very enthusiastic about the company. “Many businesses look at environmental legislation as a hindrance to their business and an extra cost. SR Recycling have demonstrated that this is not always the case; a message that the South Yorkshire Green Business Club has been promoting for over 15 years,” he said.

“It is clear that waste is one of the biggest environmental challenges we face today. Any new business service that is a realistic, financially viable alternative to landfill while also promoting reuse and recycling should be welcomed.”