Crisp Malt and TerraCycle have launched the Freight Recycling Programme, which seeks to help brewers and distilleries recycle plastic malt sacks in bulk.
Customers can pack empty plastic malt sacks from any supplier onto pallets, with no restrictions placed on sack size or weight. As long as they are made of polypropylene or polyethylene, they can be recycled through the programme.
This is said to offer brewers and distillers a cost-effective system for bulk collection and recycling, as the sum of the programme’s three associated costs – the recycling, pallet handling, and shipment fees – are said to be comparable to other waste disposal routes.
The pallet handling fee is a standard £25 per pallet, but the recycling fee is calculated based on weight, costing £2.47 per kilogram. Shipment can be arranged by the customer or by TerraCycle, and the shipment fee will vary depending on the distance between the customer and TerraCycle’s Material Recovery Facility.
“The recycling of plastic malt sacks has been an industry-wide challenge for many years, mainly due to the difficulties around the local recycling of polypropylene,” said Ellie Wood, sustainability coordinator at Crisp Malt. “We have been working hard to resolve this and are proud to offer an industry-first solution to recycling waste malt sacks in bulk after a successful trial with our customers who found the system to be very user-friendly.
“During the one month trial, we recycled 820 kg of waste malt sacks at an average cost of £2.82 per kg (excluding shipment fees). We are excited to be onboarding many new customers onto the programme, supporting them with their sustainability goals.”
The programme comes after nine brewing and distilling customers, including Holyrood Distillery, successfully completed a one-month trial.
“When we heard about the TerraCycle trial at Crisp Malt we were delighted,” said distillery manager Calum Rae. “The move towards more sustainable practices has been a key goal for Holyrood this year and this was the perfect chance to help shape and feed into this great initiative.
“The team at Crisp Malt clearly outlined what the trial was about and were supportive from start to finish. We found the trial to be a success as the ability to recycle our malt sacks will help alleviate a large portion of our waste disposal needs.”
Julien Tremblin, general manager at TerraCycle, added: “TerraCycle is delighted to have launched this freight recycling programme with Crisp Malt. Disposing of plastic malt sacks in a more environmentally responsible way is a challenge faced by commercial malt-users of all sizes and capacities, so it is great to see Crisp Malt bringing a flexible, cost-effective recycling solution that caters for the varied operational scope of its client-base.
“After a successful pilot with selected customers, we hope and expect to see widespread engagement across the malt-using industry as we roll out the solution across the UK.”
Crisp Malt’s ongoing partnership with TerraCycle is intended to help customers achieve their zero waste targets and pursue a more responsible supply chain.
The partners recently utilized TerraCycle’s Zero Waste Box to collect, recycle, and repurpose used malt sacks. The partners planned to save 70 tonnes of plastic from incineration or landfills every year.
In other news, TerraCycle previously joined forces with Aldi to trial a blister pack recycling scheme for its own-label medicines. Consumers could return their empty blister packs and aluminium in the post, with TerraCycle set to convert the plastic and aluminium foil into recycled raw material to produce nuts and bolts, plastic waste bins, and outdoor furniture.
More recently, Morrisons and Podback commenced a coffee pod recycling scheme in supermarkets across the UK, in which free Podback recycling bags could be filled with empty pods and returned to in-store collection points.
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