Knauf Insulation and Veolia have officially opened a new high-tech glass recycling facility in St Helens. Each year, over 60,000 tonnes of used glass bottles and jars will now be given a new lease of life as the partners join forces to clean, separate and refine household glass, before transforming it into high performance, energy-saving insulation solutions.
Veolia’s world-first facility uses the latest technology to sort and separate glass at a micro-level with exceptional accuracy, delivering an ultra-pure glass cullet. The state of the art machinery includes vibrating screens for size sorting, magnets to extract ferrous materials and eddy current separators[i] for non-ferrous materials.
The new facility enables Knauf Insulation to secure its glass supply and maximise the use of recycled materials instead of virgin minerals. Also the proximity of the new facility will save approximately 375,000 miles of road journeys.
The glass collected equates to over 350 million bottles thrown out yearly – which could otherwise end up in landfill or pollute our environment. With a £10M investment and a decade long commitment from Knauf Insulation, both companies are demonstrating their dedication to sustainable and circular manufacturing.
John Sinfield, Managing Director at Knauf Insulation Northern Europe, said:
“Our insulation solutions play a key role in helping reduce carbon emissions and benefit the environment.
“This is also a real boost for the circular economy and the fact we have delivered this in partnership with Veolia demonstrates what can be achieved when two leaders in their respective fields work together to achieve mutual goals.”
Estelle Brachlianoff, Senior Executive Vice-President at Veolia UK & Ireland, said:
“This innovative new facility is a £10 million investment in the UK green economy which is good for jobs, good for the community and good for the planet.
[i] The Eddy Current Separator is an advanced metal sorting unit that is capable of separating non-ferrous metals, (such as aluminium and copper) from dry recyclables
