Weighing solution helps the NEC almost double waste recycling.

The National Exhibition Centre (NEC) has almost doubled the amount of waste that it recycles with the help of an Avery Weigh-Tronix weighing solution in its new Waste Pre-treatment Centre.

Over the last twelve months the new facility has weighed nearly 1500 tonnes of waste and diverted 992 tonnes of waste from landfill to be recycled. This equates to a saving of £47,600 and 406 tonnes of CO2.

The new centre allows waste to be weighed, separated and treated prior to collection by local suppliers. To track and measure the amount of waste leaving the site, the NEC needed a robust and reliable weighing solution. The Avery Weigh-Tronix system consists of two H520 floor scales, E1310 indicators and custom developed software.

Before the waste pre-treatment centre was built, waste was collected from locations around the 650 acre site and transported to a compactor, before being sent to landfill. This meant that tractor drivers had to wait their turn in a queue before dropping off their load and repeating the process.

The new centre has enabled the NEC to reduce downtime and implement a more efficient process. Waste is collected from each hall and transported to the pre-treatment facility in Euro bins where it is weighed and bundled ready to be recycled. The bins are simply dropped of at the centre and loaded straight on to the H520 pit mounted platform scale.

The E1310 indicator displays the weight on a bright graphic display and interfaces with the NEC's software for accurate data analysis. The system allows the NEC to charge customers depending on the amount of waste produced.

Says Steve Cartmell, contract manager for NEC cleaning and waste: "Having this facility on site has enabled us to dramatically reduce the amount of waste we send to landfill, whilst also reducing the number of vehicles needed to transport this material and the distance they have to travel.

"The Avery Weigh-Tronix system ensures that we are meeting our environmental targets and complying with regulations, not to mention enabling us to charge our customers accurately for the amount of waste that they produce. The system is extremely durable and reliable, allowing us to accurately track, record and analyse the amount of waste produced on site and ensure that we are working as efficiently as possible. In fact the treatment centre has recently been awarded an Excellence Award for Sustainable Initiative of the Year."

The National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham, runs more than 200 events every year and produces 3000 tonnes of waste. The NEC is committed to reducing its environmental impact and carbon footprint and has increased the amount of waste sent for recycling from 19 percent in 2008 to over 35 percent in 2010.

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