West Wales' leading industrial wholesalers, David Harries & Co, have found a new way to ensure more of their waste makes its way back into the circular economy – whilst saving money and space at the same time.

They’ve worked with another Welsh company Waste Baling Machines – based in Pembrokeshire and working across South and West Wales – to ‘skip the skip’ and introduce a waste baling machine into their business.

As Dan Thomas of Waste Baling Machines explains;

“When we spoke to David Harries & Co originally we realised they were paying to transport their recyclable waste off site as it was taking up so much space.  The waste baling machine we supplied to them is able to compact cardboard, plastic, and metal down into clean, stackable bales which are then collected monthly by us. The balers reduce the materials’ volume by around 80% so it saves storage space, and is far cheaper than paying to have the loose waste removed.  It also means more materials are heading to recycling facilities than landfill.”

Llyndaf Harries, of David Harries & Co, explains;

“Before installing the baler we had a mountain of cardboard and plastic wrapping taking up a full aisle of the warehouse. This was eating away at very useful space and the cost of skips to remove was spiralling. The recycling baler has enabled us to clear this space by compacting all the cardboard and plastic – including shrinkwrap – into palletised bales. We can then store these neatly up on our racking ready for collection. The frequent collection means we are circulating our recycling regularly knowing that the cardboard and plastic is being recycled in an environmentally friendly manner. It’s been an excellent investment to complement our continued efforts for improved efficiencies and minimising environmental impacts.”

Waste baling machines have long been used in larger companies and factories with vast amounts of waste being saved from landfill this way, but now smaller units measuring less than a metre across are available. These offer smaller companies a more manageable and cost-effective way of dealing with their waste, and as an added benefit it also enables them to recycle much more.  The ‘circular economy’ that this feeds into is part of the solution to our global climate problems, ensuring that as much material as possible is put back into the system to be recycled and reused.