Company: XPO Logistics
Challenge: Continuous energy-efficient compaction for large retail site
XPO Logistics manages 12 recycling service units (RSUs) for Tesco. The Belfast RSU manages the recycling for 55 Tesco sites in Northern Ireland. With vehicles delivering to the site 7 days a week, it’s essential that the recycling plant is robust, reliable and easy to operate and maintain. It also needs to be able to withstand rising throughput volumes efficiently.
To help process the plastic and cardboard packaging material throughputs, XPO’s Belfast RSU is now relying on a new Presona LP 85VH1 Series baler to provide continuous, energy-efficient compaction.
The custom-built baler was designed by the Presona team and incorporates:
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a bespoke feeding conveyor
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a stand-alone control panel giving online access to production and performance data
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a frequency control system to optimise energy consumption.
The LP Series 85VH1 baler has a motor of 55kW, has a throughput of up to 12t/hr for cardboard and incorporates Presona’s prepress technology. When compared to a shear baler, the prepress delivers a significant reduction in energy costs as all of the power goes into the compaction process.
It also minimises consumable waste. Typically, LP Series balers produce bales with a wire ‘pigtail’ length of just 50mm, significantly shorter than the norm.
At XPO’s Belfast RSU, the baler will be compacting 9,500 tonnes of card and 700 tonnes of plastic a year.
“The new Presona baler gives us options,” said XPO Belfast Site Manager Derek Payne. “There are Presona balers at work in other XPO sites and we know they’re reliable and robust. We can trust them to do the job day in and day out with little intervention. That’s important for us and will allow us to increase our operation further.
“We also appreciate the on-site training, maintenance support and warranty supplied by Presona.”
Company: M & J Bowers
Challenge: To increase confidential shredding capacity
M & J Bowers wanted to extend its cardboard collection, recycling and export service and put in place plans to grow further. Part of the expansion plan involved an upgrade of the recycling plant to increase capacity and improve productivity.
A new Presona baler was part of the upgrade. This allowed M & J Bowers to extend the material streams being baled and to switch easily between shredded paper baling and cardboard baling as required.
M & J Bowers Managing Director John Bowers wanted a baler with:
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a reputation for reliability
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flexibility
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the ability to cope with high material volumes
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bespoke design
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a full warranty and a local service agreement
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fully installed
He chose a Presona LP 50 VH2 and said:
“Our baler was OK, but at 27 years old it soon became clear that while it could bale shredded paper, it couldn’t cope with cardboard. It was working at capacity and needed constant operator supervision to produce a consistent bale quality. As soon as the new Presona baler was installed we realised just how much the old one had been struggling
“We can bale both shredded paper and cardboard, switching between materials as required. Our throughput has increased, and yet the speed of the new baler means that it still has more than 50 per cent capacity available
“It’s extremely flexible, easy to use and efficient – and unlike its predecessor, it doesn’t need constant operator supervision. It will allow us to continue growing and is exactly what we had hoped for.”