Recycling EPS to create opportunity A not-for-profit social enterprise company, STIR Network, has set up an EPS recycling scheme in Duns, Berwickshire and it is using the income to help the long-term unemployed and people with disabilities and health problems back into work.
Previously, the used fish boxes were landfilled. Now the compacted material is recycled into a clean pellet by WES Recycling in Redcar and used instead of virgin material for coat hangers, computer cases and plastic furniture. Fiona Macpherson, founder of STIR Network says: “I am very excited by the potential of our EPS recycling scheme. It makes enough money to provide job opportunities and training for young people who have not been able to work due to lack of opportunity, health and disability issues. “We see ourselves as a stepping stone. Typically, people work for us for a few months; they gain confidence and find out their capabilities, then we help them to find a job. Some of them have trained as forklift truck drivers — giving them a tangible qualification to go to an employer with.” STIR Network views the Duns scheme as a successful template that it hopes to replicate elsewhere: “We would like to establish something similar in Edinburgh and then we’d set up anywhere there is a business that has large amounts of EPS to dispose of,” adds Dr.Macpherson. |
Fishgate Recycles EPS Fish Boxes Recycling EPS Scottish Fish Boxes Collected for Recycling UK recycling Technology is exported to the U.S.
|
||
STIR Network is compacting around seven tonnes of EPS fish boxes and other EPS pack-aging a week. The fish boxes mainly come from Farne Salmon and Trout Ltd who are located next door to STIR Network in Duns. 
