First UK pre-press twin-ram baler from Middleton Engineering

Leading baler and recycling equipment engineers Middleton Engineering has announced the UK's first pre-press, twin-ram baler, designed for the challenging needs of today's modern waste recycling industry.

With a press force of 150 tonnes, the new machine is capable of producing very dense bales of waste material but in a new more compact bale size, designed especially for containerised transportation and storage of baled waste materials, including RDF.

"Previously the loading and unloading of baled RDF waste in road containers has been difficult and time consuming to achieve, without damaging the wrapping materials and rupturing the bales, simply because bale sizes have not been optimised", explains Mark Smith of Middleton Engineering.

"The new square section bale, measuring 1050 x 1050 x 1400mm, is the optimal size to load easily without damaging the wrapping and provides operators with a cleaner more hygienic solution, at the same time maximising the available container space," he added.

Middletons believe they are the first manufacturer to take this strategic path. By integrating pre-press features in the design, Middleton is providing operators with a powerful machine that combines the high throughput of a channel baler with the superior compaction rates of a twin ram machine.

The design, which forces more materials into the chamber before the twin ram cycles through, achieves high compaction rates with fewer cycles and is therefore more energy efficient. As this is happening, a new charge of material can be prepared in the pre-press to maximise operational efficiency.

In addition, Middleton's prepress twin ram will be the first machine to combine both wire and plastic tie capabilities in the same machine – making it very quick to switch from different waste streams such as cardboard, which requires wire ties, or RDF which utilises plastic.

With interest already from operators in the UK and Scandinavia, the ME2R150SQPP is being built at Middleton's manufacturing centre in Somerset and will on show for the first time at RWM in September.