Capital support for fine-glass recycling

A NEW capital support competition has been announced by WRAP to help stimulate the production of recycled fine-glass materials (grits, sands, powders etc) and to increase the total amount of glass recycled in the UK. The competition offers grant aid towards the capital costs involved in creating new recycled fine-glass production capacity, including the purchase of land, buildings, equipment and machinery.

Market demand for recycled glass products for use in sports turf, clay products and filtration media is continuing to grow and the new competition is expected to contribute towards WRAP’s target to stimulate the recycling of an additional 150,000 tonnes a year of glass into alternative markets.

WRAP’s material development manager for glass, Andy Dawe, explained: ‘Market demand for recycled fine-glass products is growing but we need to improve glass processing capacity so that end-users have confidence in a reliable supply.

‘This competition will help us to ensure that these important higher value fine-glass markets are able to fully complement more established existing ones, as well as helping us to achieve our glass recycling targets.’

As usual, the funding from WRAP will be made available by means of a competitive procedure and the level of support will be a proportion of the total project value, not exceeding 30% of the eligible costs.

The new capacity will be expected to be operational by December 2006 and proposals will need to demonstrate both a sustainable source of material and end markets. Tenders will also have to demonstrate that the viability of the proposed investment is dependent on WRAP funding support.

The closing date for tender submissions is Friday 30 September 2005. Full tender invitation documents can be obtained from the WRAP website at: www.wrap.org.uk; or by quoting reference GLA0052 to Amanda Brewerton on e-mail: amanda.brewerton@wrap.org.uk