European Metal Recycling (EMR) officially opened a new fridge recycling plant in Walsall, near Birmingham in the UK, in late March. The facility will recycle end-of-life refrigerators and freezers from producer compliance schemes.
EMR said that the plant is equipped with the "latest technology and innovative processes, including robotic separation systems", so it could "meet and exceed the increased requirements placed on fridge recyclers in the UK". At the official opening ceremony, Chris Preston, deputy director of the Resource and Waste Directorate at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), was given a guided tour of the facility.
The multi-million-pound recycling plant had twice the capacity of the nearby Darlaston fridge recycling facility, which it replaced. A recent video released by EMR indicates that the new plant can recycle 120 fridges per hour.
EMR describes itself as the UK’s largest fridge recycler and says it is able to provide fridge recycling services throughout the country. The company has another facility in Willesden, north of London. This site is to focus on treating waste appliances containing CFCs, since the number of fridges using banned CFCs as a coolant is continuing to decline. The new plant will only recycle fridges containing pentane, EMR said. Along with recycling fridges, EMR also has ferrous and non-ferrous metals, end-of-life vehicles (ELV), and ship and plastic recycling operations, handling approximately 10 million tonnes of waste per year. Outside the UK, EMR has locations in the US, Germany and the Netherlands. Altogether, the group employs more than 3,500 people around the globe.
As previously reported, EMR generated sales of £4.8bn in the 2022 financial year, which corresponds to roughly €5.6bn. Its gross profit increased by £5m compared with 2021 to reach £1.6bn.
