Ken Hawkins

Yesterday I joined fellow councillors/shareholders from the eight local authorities that have invested in the new Materials Recycling Centre (MRF) – https://www.sherbournerecycling.co.uk

The MRF was born out of discussions between forward thinking local authorities who wished to change and challenge the system whereby recyclers (those who accepted received material) held the whip hand. It was important that costs for local authorities were the best possible for the tax payer and that we look to be able to recycle material the private companies shied away from (usually because there was little revenue in for them). The decision by the eight local authorities was far reaching and shows what can be done when local authorities work together.

Sherbourne Recycling was established in 2021 to develop and operate a new state of the art materials recycling facility in Coventry on behalf of eight local authorities (Coventry City Council, North Warwickshire Borough Council, Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council, Rugby Borough Council, Stratford-on-Avon District Council, Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council, Walsall Council and Warwick District Council). Each authority has a % share of the investment according to size of the relevant authority.

The facility is AI enables and robots will tackle all the recycling that is delivered to it from the eight local authorities. Dry materials have already been going through part of the site for testing and there is an incremental start date for each authority to begin delivering all recycling. Solihull will begin early in October this year.

Sherbourne state – this is a ‘Game Changer’ in recycling in the UK and the first facility of its kind and magnitude in the UK (perhaps in Europe).

The plan for ‘end products’ is nearly complete and I will share more information as we move forwards.