Powerhouse Plugs Into Recycling
The EPS packaging protects white and brown goods such as fridges, cookers and large televisions throughout their journey from the manufacturer to the customers' homes. Powerhouse delivers and installs these products to customers' homes and in the process the packaging is removed and returned to Powerhouse Distribution in Walsall. Setting up this successful scheme took some time and persistence, John Hirst, Site Manager at Powerhouse Distribution, explains: "In 1998 I was looking for a cost-effective way of dealing with our waste. We began by simply compacting the EPS packaging, this was a good start — we reduced our landfill costs — but I wanted to find a buyer to recycle it". The waste EPS packaging that Powerhouse had was not contaminated with food or soil, but the labels on it reduced its purity to 89 per cent. The well-known recyclers John Hirst contacted were not interested in buying the material. John Hirst explains how he found a recycler who would take his material: "I got advice from Peter Geddes, an independent consultant. He put me in touch with recyclers who would take our waste EPS even with the 89 per cent purity factor. "I am really pleased to be recycling our waste rather than dumping it in landfill. It makes sense environmentally and we have a scheme that makes good economic sense too".
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Recycling passes screen test at Philips Commended! – Dixon Group/ From washing machine packaging to garden trellis Powerhouse plugs into recycling EPS News Interview – Stuart Mudge, Raymarine
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The UK's largest independent home appliance retailer, Powerhouse Retail Limited, is currently recycling an average of three tonnes of waste expanded polystyrene (EPS) packaging a week.
