Plasterboard reprocessing

Nearly £65,000 of funding from the Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) has gone to Roy Hatfield Ltd to improve its reprocessing facilities. This will enable the company to process an additional 85,000 tonnes of waste plasterboard over the next five years.

With this WRAP funding, Hatfield has been able to make a series of improvements to its facilities. It has doubled its storage capacity through the construction of a new covered bay capable of holding approximately 600 tonnes of waste plasterboard and installed of a primary sizer that ensures the waste plasterboard entering the separation process is of a consistent size, which optimises the operating speed. Similarly, a new cyclone and density separator improves the separation of the gypsum and paper, thereby improving the quality of the recycled gypsum powder and producing cleaner paper. Finally, vehicular access to the loading and storage areas has been improved thanks to new concrete hardstanding and drainage.

In the UK, construction and demolition sites create an estimated 900,000 tonnes of plasterboard waste each year. Hatfield's improvements are a step towards more effective reprocessing in this area.