EMR opens Scotland port facility

United Kingdom-based EMR Ltd. says it has opened its new new metal recycling facility at Glasgow’s King George V docks, following what it calls a “multi-million-pound investment” at the site.

The company intends to load eight deep-sea ships annually with each vessel able to carry up to 30,000 metric tons of scrap. “Each ship will transport sustainable, recycled material to markets around the world,” states the company.

EMR says sea freight is a low-carbon transport option for moving material to steel mills in the U.K. and abroad.  The larger ships arriving at the new EMR site at King George V dock will produce one-fifth of the emissions, per metric ton of material carried, compared with smaller ships typically carrying around 3,000 metric tons. Loading smaller ships at a facility on the River Clyde had been EMR’s previous shipping method.

At nearly eight acres, the site will also house an end-of-life vehicle (ELV) facility “capable of depolluting and recycling high volumes of vehicles each week,” says EMR. EMR says its growing ELV collection network will feed auto hulks to the King George V facility, enabling EMR “to become Scotland’s leading ELV recycler for members of the public and businesses alike.”

Comments Ian Sheppard, managing director of EMR, “Scotland has been leading the way in sustainability, so we’re very excited to be joining the nation’s drive by creating a new large-scale model of a low carbon, sustainable metal recycling operation that safeguards biodiversity. We know that Glasgow residents care deeply about the continued success of the docks on the River Clyde and we’re very proud to continue in their revitalization.” 

Adds Sheppard, “The opening of our new site at Glasgow’s King George V docks is the culmination of years of planning and hard work by the EMR team and our partners.”

The sizable facility also will accept peddler traffic, with what EMR calls a “dedicated, segregated area for members of the public and tradespeople to drop of small quantities of any type of metal such as metal household goods, copper, brass, cable and aluminum—all with dedicated parking and instant payment.”

The company says it is planning a second phase that will see the site expand to 11.5 acres. The expansion will allow EMR to increase its capacity for both ELV recycling and metal processing and separation.  The extended site will focus on processing “significant volumes of shredder feed such as ELVs and metals from business customers and local authorities across Scotland,” says the firm.