A number of shedders undertook a visit to Crapper & Sons recycling facility in Brinkworth as they have now restarted their open days.
The previous night and early morning of the visit provided torrential rain, which didn’t proffer well for the tour. However, the rain cleared, the sun shone and all of us had a great time.
The tour was fully escorted with Richard Crapper and his team providing knowledgeable information and very keen to receive and answer questions. The tour is undertaken with visitors being transported in a 20-seat trailer and pulled by tractor.
We started the tour by visiting the card recycling area. Discarded cardboard is loaded into a large shredding machine, where after shredding is lifted to a hopper that measures a given weight of shredding (20 kg), which is then dropped into the bags and sealed. On lifting into the hopper, a vacuum filter extracts any dust, so that the finished product is dust free an ideal for all pet bedding. This is particularly beneficial in equine establishments where respiratory conditions can be prone to occur. In addition, disposal of contaminated cardboard effectively decomposes quickly in the manure pound.
From card recycling, the tour moves on to the timber recycling area. Here timber specific waste is received and sorted. True timber (pallets, lumber) is put aside and recycled to wood burning power stations. The remaining ‘contaminated’ timber (MDF, laminate, etc) is loaded into a large crushing cylinder. When crushed to a small size, it becomes suitable for agricultural bedding. During the crushing process, a series of filters and magnets removes any metal contaminants.
The tour then visits the current landfill cell into which non-recyclable waste is buried. It was excellent to hear that 83% of all waste received on site is recycled, but it was still disappointing to see what 17% of non-recyclable waste looks like.
In addition to general waste, Crapper & Son’s takes mixed building spoil and segregates soil & hardcore so that the components can be reused elsewhere. As well as this, they take green waste and compost it, selling back to individuals and businesses a superb nutrient full compost.
The entire tour took around 90 minutes and was thoroughly enjoyed by all those attending. It is well worth visiting as there is far more going on on-site than just being landfill.
Our sincere thanks to Richard and his team at Crappers & Sons, for a very informative visit.
