- Update to the power supply promises 20% increase in power efficiency for the only metal recycling shredder within London’s M25
- Long-term investment follows switch to renewable power and reinstatement of rail access to site to allow low-carbon transport
- Innovations linked to EMR’s Decade of Action sustainability strategy
European Metal Recycling (EMR) has taken another significant step in its transition towards a sustainable future with the arrival of a state-of the-art medium voltage/low voltage (LV/MV) inverter at its Willesden recycling facility. The innovative technology will increase the power efficiency of the only metal shredder in operation inside the M25.
The metal shredder recycles 250,000 tonnes of metal a year. Its inner-city location provides convenience and cost savings to London’s construction industry and avoids over 20,000 long distance lorry journeys which would be required to move waste metal to the next nearest metal shredder.
EMR’s £460,000 investment at Willesden will also help London’s businesses and local authorities cut their own indirect carbon emissions, ensuring that metal waste processed today becomes part of the circular economy. Meanwhile, the site’s easy access to the A404 and the city’s critical Westway dual carriageway provides a vital and sustainable benefit to the capital’s economy.
The metal recycling facility is part of a seven-acre EMR site, which also includes London’s only refrigerator recycling facility, processing end-of-life fridges locally while capturing ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs).
Commenting on the latest sustainable steps EMR is taking, the company’s Managing Director for Ferrous Metals, Bob Garwood, said:
“We know how strategically important our Willesden site is to the customers large and small that use it each day. Our latest long-term sustainable investment at Willesden is an important step in helping EMR, and London as a whole, decarbonise in the years ahead.
“Major manufacturers and construction firms in the area can now demonstrate that they are disposing of the waste materials they produce in a responsible, lower carbon way that returns metal waste back into the circular economy. Thanks to the broad infrastructure available at our 60 facilities across the UK, EMR has an unrivalled capacity to recycle steel, aluminium, copper wires, plastics and more.”
Following the successful arrival of the new LV/MV inverter at Willesden, EMR will review its other major UK sites – including Tilbury, Liverpool and Birmingham – as it continues to invest in its Decade of Action sustainability strategy.
