£100 million contract
Recresco Ltd, a leading national recycling company, has just announced it has been awarded a 10 year contract by Quinn Glass Ltd, one of Britain's leading manufacturers of glass bottles, to supply 2 million tonnes of recycled glass cullet over the next 10 years to their Cheshire plant. The new £100 million pound contract will ensure a very large volume of recycled glass will be used in the production of new glass bottles with major benefits to the environment.
Recresco has established three cutting edge glass processing centres in the UK, each employing the latest technology with the ability to produce colour separated glass from mixed glass to the rigorous quality standards set by Quinn.
The new contract underlines the fact that there is a very large market for mixed glass that is efficiently colour separated. More than 90% of the mixed glass processed by Recresco is destined for the production of new glass bottles and glass containers. The residue that cannot be colour separated is processed into alternative products with benefits to the environment. This ensures minimum wastage throughout the whole process.
All of the glass supplied under the contract will have been collected within the UK, mainly through recycling activities by local authorities via kerbside collection schemes and bottle banks.
Quinn Glass Ltd is an important part of the Irish based Quinn Group. The manufacturing plant located on a 205 acre site at Ince in Cheshire represents a major investment. Opened in 2006 at a cost of £300 million pounds the plant not only manufactures but also provides a comprehensive glass packaging, filling and distribution service for the drinks industry. The plant incorporates one of the largest fully automated warehouses in Europe capable of handling 282,000 pallets of filled or unfilled containers. It is the most technically advanced glass bottle production plant in Europe.
Production is centred on two furnaces each with a 600 tonne melt capacity supporting 13 production lines. The capacity of the plants is around 310,000 tonnes per year of glass.
Protecting the environment is high on Quinn's agenda which is one of the reasons why the company is increasingly turning to the use of recycled glass in its production process.
Mr Adrian Curry, a director of Quinn said "the supply contract with Recreso Ltd was only signed after careful evaluation of their ability to meet our extremely high quality standards. For example, we demand almost 100% contaminate free glass; otherwise we risk reducing the quality of our product and interrupting our production process. We have worked with Recresco for a number of years and in this time we have established a close working relationship with them". He went on to say "that this landmark contract not only provides considerable benefit to both Quinn Glass and Recresco Ltd" it does much to sustain the long term demand for recycled Glass".