PRESS RELEASE - for immediate release

26 July 2017

VANDEN TACKLES FALSE WEIGHT REPORTING IN PLASTIC RECYCLING INDUSTRY

UK industry needs to take a close look at the revenue earned from plastic recycling as there is a high risk of being short changed.

That's the advice from Damien van Leuven, global CEO of Vanden Group, who has noted some serious operational issues which he says should ring alarm bells for UK organisations that are trying to maximise plastic recycling and optimise cost efficiencies.

‘We opened our first UK plastic processing facility in Whittlesey, near Peterborough, earlier this year,' said Damien van Leuven, ‘and, as you would expect, we've since taken on a number of new clients.

‘What has surprised us is that on switching their plastic recycling to us around 50 per cent have instantly experienced an uplift in revenue from this material stream,' he said.

Further investigations by the Vanden Recycling team have pinpointed weighing and reporting inaccuracies as the main reasons for the revenue shortfall.

‘Our advice to those seeking a sustainable recycling route for their scrap plastic is firstly to sort your plastics into separate grades. Stackable stillages make this a simple and compact option and doing so will instantly increase the material value over a mixed load,' advised Damien van Leuven.

‘You should also receive certified weighbridge tickets and detailed packing lists for each trailer received by your recycling partner. That way you know the exact amount of waste you produce and can correlate this with the value.

‘One in two Vanden customers has found that previous service providers were not accurately reporting weights resulting in lost revenue,' he said.

The under-reporting of plastic is also impacting PRN prices. Currently, with tough targets to meet and uncertainty around export markets, PRN prices are very high leading to greater costs to the producer. It is therefore essential that producers receive accurate reports of the tonnages they are sending to be recycled and maximise income from that stream to offset increasing PRN costs.

For more information, contact: Adrienne Robins at Hanicke Robins Sanderson on 07855 643094 or emailadrienne.robins@harosa.com

About Vanden Recycling 
Vanden is well known in the UK for its nationwide collections and recycling of waste and scrap plastics. The company primarily processes post-industrial plastic waste from the vacuum forming, printing and retail and logistics sectors including ABS, HDPE, LDPE, PET, PP and PS.

Vanden markets these back into the manufacturing sector, in the UK, Europe and export markets, as a valuable and sustainable material feedstock. For some customers, Vanden can take plastic scrap and process it ready for re-use by the same customer, providing a new way of maximising the value of original feedstocks.

Vanden UK is part of the global Vanden Group which also has offices in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Finland, Australia and Taiwan.