Waste transfer station?

[MorrisSelfStorage]

Hi,

Does anybody have any ideas what is needed to open a waste transfer station?
What licences are needed?
Does it have to be a certain distance from houses?
Is it possible to get grants for this sort of thing?
Do people struggle to get rid of certain items?

Ben

[CKG]

Phone the Environment Agency. Their not hard to find on google.

They will tell you all you need to know.

[lockyer]

The licences are a lot easier to get than they used to be. Not that helpful I know, but they are springing up all over the place round here

[MorrisSelfStorage]

There is a few round me, i am thinking of a waste transfer/recycling station for old mattress. We do property clearance and storage and we throw loads of old mattress away, and they end up in landfill, but at least 50% of a mattress must be the springs which has a decent resale value at certain times of the year. Its the foam i cant seem to get any information on. do companys buy this used foam?

Sorry to completely change the subject!

Ben

[KidsBeeHappy]

Ben

The problem I would see, is that people would be looking to dispose of all waste, not just particular types of waste that you deal with. You yourself know that a house clearance will generate wood, fabrics, controlled stuff like tv, fridge, freezer, monitors, batteries, the mixed stuff, plastics, metals etc. And you too know that the last thing you'd be wanting to do is seperate out all the different items and take them elsewhere.

If you want to specialise in one area then i'd either make it the controlled items, or the metal, or the brown/green waste.

Plus most people who dump matteresses do so in the local council sites, or they put them out for a free council uplift in areas that do that.

I don't know how you could turn this one into a viable business..........

If you really want to make mega big bucks with a transfer station, there is one genuine very good way to do it - open one in the ROI. Seriously.

[MorrisSelfStorage]

With the controlled items, what do the council do with the items they collect? do they pay someone else to take them away?

I did some work in stockport about 3 months ago and on this industrial estate, pallets FULL of old printers were coming in and being stripped. what components would they have been after? is there any items on electrical stuff that is salvageable?

Ben

[KidsBeeHappy]

Most local councils have contracts with single suppliers, who operate the usually very very large transfer station in the area. Sometimes not even in their local authority area.

Viridor (http://www.viridor-waste.co.uk/) are one of the largest. These companies are effectively a one stop shop for the councils.

The councils are effectively nothing more than collection points. Places such as viridor employee hundreds of people, and phenominally expensive pieces of equipment to strip out the component parts, the recycleable items etc etc. Which then then send off frequently to the sub continenet for cleaning, segregation and reuse.

It's bizarre that recycling involves such a large amount of rubbish being sent around the world.

[Business Advice Centre]

Ben,

You need to speak to the environment agency with regards to this and they will give you all the information you need.

If you are dealing with waste, you will need an environment agency license as a transporter / holder of waste. That is fairly straightforward to arrange. I have this license myself and have previously owned a transfer / treatment site.

To set-up a transfer station is more complicated, time consuming and costly. The environment agency via Europe have a clear policy on what they will and won't accept and they will probably make you jump through some hoops to get to where you want to. You will need a license from the EA.

Being close to houses will be a factor in the EA's approach to any application.

I'm not aware of any grants?

People struggle to get rid of items for which there is no demand and / or expensive handling / processing costs. My transfer station focused on liquids. Cutting oil, oily contaminated sewage were always tough to get rid of.

[MikeD08]

As others have mentioned, you will need to contact Environment Agency, and licences depend on the type of waste.

We are fully WEEE accredited, ISO 14001 compliant, hold AATF (Approved Authorised Recycling Facility) status and are currently looking into ISO 27002 compliance.

Depending on what you are doing there could be a lot of work ahead.

The following website may be of interest to you: http://www.bsi-global.com/

[MorrisSelfStorage]

Thanks for all the advice,

Mike, when you said "depending on what you are doing there could be alot of work ahead" - What sort of work seems to be in demand at the moment or in the future?

Business advice - did you deal with old engine oil from farms and garages etc? what do you do with it? or where do you take it? i know alot of friends who have trouble getting rid of it.

Boxby, lockyer, ckg - thanks for your advice, much appricated!

Ben

[dodeca]

Hi Morris,
I have only just signed up to this forum and a lot on here to go through.
Its an old thread but just wanted to know how you got on.
I spent nine years in the waste and landfill trade and i am now in the process of setting my own wood waste business up, so i know its not easy.
May be i could help, best of luck.

Dodeca.