A supplier of fish and shellfish to the catering industry has landed a solution to the challenge of disposing of polystyrene boxes used to transport fish.
Since Cole’s of Kings Lynn installed a specialist polystyrene compacting machine, the SC1000 EPS (Expanded Polystyrene) Compactor, it has seen a dramatic decline in the volume of waste it produces and its rubbish collection costs have plummeted by almost 96%.
The machine, which was supplied by waste and recycling company Greenbank, reduces polystyrene boxes used to transport salmon to Cole’s and which weigh over 1kg when empty, down to virtually nothing making disposal relatively straightforward and far less costly.
Brian Cole, joint owner of the West Norfolk-based business in the UK that holds a Royal Warrant for supplying fish and shellfish to the Queen, said, “It has saved us a fortune. We used to pay £100 a time for twice weekly collections and now it costs us £37 every five weeks,” he said. "I can’t praise it enough. It’s an incredibly simple system and has paid for itself in six months."
Robin Evershed, Sales Director of Greenbank, explained that it offers a very straightforward way to dispose of polystyrene. “The SC1000 is a robust, low maintenance machine that achieves good results with both wet and dry polystyrene, reducing the volume down to 40 times less than its original state,” he said.
“It is simple to operate, can be loaded as soon as the waste is produced and doesn’t take up a huge amount of space.”
