Introduction to Recycling Balers: Eco-Friendly Solutions

There’s never been more focus on recycling than right now, making a commercial recycling baler more of a necessity for businesses than ever.

In the UK, the government aims for 65% of all municipal waste to be recycled or reused by 2030. Not only does recycling help businesses to achieve sustainability commitments but it also makes good business sense. 

Key Takeaways

Employing a high-quality commercial recycling baler can help your business to:

• Reduce waste costs; 
• Improve efficiency;
• Save space; and
• Generate a new revenue stream.

Read on to learn more about how a recycling baler can benefit your business. 

The Importance of Recycling

In 2020, UK businesses generated some 33.8m tonnes of waste. To keep this waste out of landfills and reduce our impact on the environment, we should be recycling as much as possible. Individual businesses benefit by:

• Saving Money: Using recycled materials often costs less than using new materials. 
• Generating Revenue: Recyclable materials can be sold to companies who can reuse them, giving your business an extra revenue line.
• Reputation: Recycling adds to your business’s green credentials and adds weight to your sustainability promises.

Types of Recycling Balers

There is a wide variety of types of balers and compactors, which cater for different-sized spaces, materials, and waste volumes.

Vertical Balers        

In a vertical baler, waste materials are placed into the machine from the top and travel vertically to the pressing chamber. While they have a relatively small footprint, you do need a high ceiling. The baler compresses and binds your waste material for easy handling. It’s ideal if you manage small volumes of waste.  If you don’t have a high ceiling – definitely still worth a chat as we can reduce the leg height from several models.

Horizontal Balers

Horizontal waste balers are usually made up of two key pieces of equipment – the baler, itself, and an infeed conveyor belt or bin lift. Waste materials are placed on the conveyor belt, which transports them into the baler for compression and binding.  Alternatively loaded using a Bin-lift that picks up the bin and empties the contents.  These balers have a much larger footprint but can handle a substantial amount of material easily.  Extra care is encouraged to ensure that material being loaded is not cross contaminated.

Two-ram Balers

A two-ram baler is a type of horizontal baler and has two rams or cylinders for compressing the waste material, rather than just one. These are installed on larger balers where you are compacting across a wider area so improve the density of the bae being created. 

Closed-door Balers

A closed-door baler is often used to compress cardboard or shredded paper but can also be used to compress light metals and plastics. In a closed-door baler, the waste materials are compressed against the sealed, closed door to produce a compact recycling bale. 

The Benefits of Recycling Balers

Space-saving

Waste balers help you to save space by compressing your waste material to a fraction of its original size. You can also throw your recycling directly into the baler until you’ve collected enough waste to run the machine. As a result, you’re also saving floor space between processing runs!

Efficiency

A recycling baler speeds up your waste management processes, enabling you to quickly sort, compress and recycle waste. It’ll also mean that you can recycle more of your waste, saving you time and money, as well as improving the overall efficiency of your operations. 

Safety

Using a baler can help you to keep on top of your recycling, bundling up your waste materials into tidy bales that can be stacked up until they’re collected. Health and safety should be paramount, so it’s important to buy or rent a high-quality baler that complies with the EN 16500 safety standard and to ensure that staff are trained properly in the safe use of the machines. 

How to Choose the Right Recycling Baler for Your Business

Material Type

Almost any recyclable material can be baled with the appropriate machine. Some baler machines, such as can crushers or cardboard shredders, are designed specifically for one or two types of material. If you’re regularly recycling materials that have held food or liquid, then there are a range of balers that can drain residual liquid from your waste before compressing it.

Volume of Waste

The volume of waste you generate impacts the type of baler you’ll need. In addition to volume, you’ll also need to consider the size of the material you’re planning to compress. Even if you’re only recycling small volumes of material, if the item is outsized, you may need to consider a baler with a larger loading door to handle your waste. 

Available Space

If space is tight on-site or you’re looking to save some room, then you may need to look at smaller, more compact balers such as vertical balers rather than horizontal balers. 

Budget

With such a huge variety of balers available, there’s one to suit every budget. Refurbished models can be a good option to save some pennies when you’re looking to invest in a baler. Alternatively, renting a baler can make good financial sense as the fee will typically include maintenance, delivery, installation and even bale collections. 

Case Studies of Businesses Using Recycling Balers

We have plenty of case studies that show how businesses like yours have saved money with our equipment solutions, like this global chemical company that installed a plastic baler and is expected to generate revenues in excess of £250 per tonne for clear plastics. 

If you’re looking for more inspiration, have a read of our customer case studies. 

In a Nutshell...

Not only will recycling equipment help your business to hit its environmental targets, but it can also help you to save space, time and money in the long run. 

Discover Our Waste Recycling Balers

Here at QCR, we have more than 22 years of experience in recycling equipment and can help you to choose the best recycling baler system to suit your business needs. Get in touch with us today.