eQuip Reaches Funding Milestone

The Waste & Resources Action Programme has announced that its equip asset finance project has topped £10 million worth of investment in recycling businesses, creating over 2 million metric tons reprocessing capacity.

Dr Bevis Watts, Head of Business Support at WRAP, said: "This is a major achievement for a scheme that has only been in operation for two and a half years. It clearly demonstrates just how rapidly the UK recycling sector can expand and grow, given the right help and encouragement. That is what WRAP’s Business Support team is there to provide."

The Business Support team was formed in April this year and brings together existing successful schemes, like eQuip, together with capital grants funding, business advisory services and new initiatives to create a one-stop shop for recycling and reprocessing companies. The aim is to stimulate and support the growth of sector, delivering increased capacity, skills and innovation in recycling.

WRAP continues to add new services to the Business Support offering to ensure that the service is truly comprehensive and continues to meet the needs of the recycling sector. Two recent additions include a Commercialization Center to support and accelerate the growth and development of early stage businesses and technologies in the recycling sector, and a Funding for Senior Management Training scheme, designed to encourage personal development among senior managers and boost confidence in the recycling sector within the investment community.

WRAP is showcasing the expanded range of services it now offers at a series of events, two of which were held during this year’s RWM. The events demonstrate how the range of advisory and funding support services available from WRAP can be applied to accelerate growth in the recycling sector and include presentations from companies that are already benefiting from Business Support’s intervention.

Among the guest speakers is recycling company Recresco, formerly known as Midland Glass, which processes glass, plastics and cans and has benefited from WRAP’s Business Support through business plan and finance raising advice as well as the eQuip scheme.

With Business Support, Recresco has been able to significantly expand its reprocessing capacity thanks to lease funding on five pieces of equipment worth a total of £420,000.

Recresco director Tim Gent says, "We couldn’t have carried out such a major upgrade and business expansion without access to lease funding through the eQuip scheme. Leasing enabled us to take on the equipment without incurring a huge capital outlay and helps us control business costs more easily. Without WRAP’s Business Support, we would have had to make do with existing equipment - with our expansion ambitions held back as a result."

The new equipment, including two separators and a color pre-sorter, has had a major impact on reprocessing capacity at Recresco. The separators remove non-glass items and improve throughput, efficiency and product quality while the new pre-sorter enables the company to color sort 20 metric tons of glass an hour - an improvement of 13 metric tons per hour on the previous machine.