Latest News
Solway Scoops Another Top Industry Award!
The award for Environmental Innovation for the Solway Bin and Liner system was presented to Roy Hiddleston (Solway MD) at the prestigious Eventful Scotland ceremony and dinner on Thurs 11 Oct in Glasgow.
Described as the 'who's who' of the Scottish waste industry the Eventful Scotland dinner and awards recognise companies that have made outstanding contributions to the recycling and waste industry in Scotland.
Roy said,"We are absolutely delighted to have won. It's fantastic for a small company to be recognised for exceptional achievement. And it's very important to be recognised as pioneers in our particular area. It makes the dedication of our hard-working team worthwhile."
New Competition in the Scottish Farmer - Win a Bin
New Calf Slats
We are manufacturing thousands of Calf Slats for export. The Slats are made from heavy duty recycled plastic which is maintenance free and rot-proof. For full details of our range visit our Recycled Plastic Products page.
Mini Hubs Are Catching On
These allow farmers to drop off their Liners at a convenient time, or set date, to a host farm. The host farmer completes the necessary paperwork on the day and later on Solway send out the invoice. Due to the transport advantage of travelling to one farm for a full load of Liners we can pass the saving on and offer a cheaper service. Call us on 01387 730666 if you want details of your nearest Mini Hub or you wish to set one up.
Solway Wins Environment Award
Roy Hiddleston, Solway M.D. presented with the award for its Solway Bin and Liner System and met David Miliband, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, at the prestigious annual Business Commitment to the Environment Awards.
Roy commented:
The award coincides with the announcement from the company that it has just taken on its 22,000th farmer customer through its national network of distributor/collectors trading as National Farmers’ Recycling Service, and has even started exporting its recycling system to New Zealand.
HRH The Princess Royal has a Solway Bin
Her Royal Highness the Princess Royal was guest of honour at the UK's brand new top livestock event – the Royal Smithfield Christmas Fair.
During her tour round the show Her Royal Highness stopped off at the Solway Recycling Ltd stand to discuss the intricacies of recycling waste from farms with the team. The Dumfries-based company has over 20 years of experience of collecting and recycling plastic waste from agricultural and aquacultural operations and other industries. Solway Managing Director Roy Hiddleston and Philip Kennen, Managing Director of Kernow Farm Plastics Ltd of Bodmin, Cornwall presented a delighted Princess Royal with a recycling bin which will be delivered to her farm at Gatcombe Park.
New for LAMMA
We launched our new ''Solway Bin Packer'' at LAMMA. It is a simple and effective way to squash waste plastic into the Bin and get the Liner as full as possible. This has two huge benefits, firstly you produce less Liners and your recycling costs are reduced. Secondly, we can operate a very efficient transport operation because we can plan our collection routes to the last Liner. This reduces the miles we have to travel, we use less fuel and cause less damage to the environment. Also, we encourage you to crush chemical drums. Thoroughly triple-rinse your containers and crush them in a controlled way in a place where you can contain any possible rinsate, them put them in the Bin. Use the Packer to compact them further so that we are collecting the maximum amount of plastic possible and we can avoid transporting fresh air round the countyside.
Tiree delivery
We have just received our first load of farm plastic from Tiree. Our service now encompasses many of the islands in the Inner Hebrides, and we are actively setting up a service for the Western Isles. We also go across the Pentland Firth to Orkney. Back on the mainland, we offer a comprehensive recycling service from Cornwall right up to Highland through our network of dedicated Collectors. And we are also very busy collecting and recycling farm plastics in Northern Ireland and Eire.
Royal Highland Show
Solway Recycling stand at the Royal Highland Show.
The Solway stand at the Royal Highland Show was a great success with over 250 new customers. So far we done the LAMA, Balmoral, Highland, the Royal, Royal Welsh, Yorkshire and lots of local shows throughout our UK and Ireland network.
New Solway Farm Waste Policy
We have developed a wide ranging waste management plan which is a simple, but extremely comprehensive, appraisal to identify all farm waste streams, and provide effective solutions for thier management.
The Policy is part of the waste management package we supply and it will demonstrate a commitment to waste management that is increasingly required within assurance schemes and business supplying food processors.
The Waste Policy also contains section for customers to store their Waste Transfer Notes and Exemptions, so it builds to become the point of reference for all the holdings waste issues.
(Photo: Collin Dodds and Jamie Biggar, Messrs J Biggar, Grange Farm, Haugh of Urr receiving the first Solway Farm Waste Policy from Roy Hiddleston, MD of Solway Recycling Ltd.)
New Exports
Solway Recycling is very pleased to announce that it has started exporting Bins to New Zealand and Ireland.
Roy Hiddleston the companys MD comments. "We are delighted to receive these orders. It confirms that our easy to use, and successful collection method for farm waste, can be adopted by farmers everywhere."
Bins in New Zealand will be marketed by Chris Hartshorne of the Christchurch based company Agpac. And some of the first Bins are destined for farms supplying the diary giant Fonterra. A spokeman from Fronterra said that the Agpac initiative was a great fit with the companys founding theme, that it continues to build on a sustainable basis.
Also the first of hundreds of Bins have recently been exported to the Republic of Ireland. The scheme will be managed by the Farm Relief Service Network (FRS) who have been involved in collecting waste plastic of farms for 9 years.
FRS Chief Executive, Peter Byrne said, "We have been following the progress of the Solway system with interest for sever years, and it seems to be the only well established system to operate anywher in Europe without any levies or outside funding. The compulsory levy system started off well here but a severe cash shortfall has resulted in some farmers not recieving a collection for years although they have paid for it. This is an effective, pay as you go system, which we can control."
Silver Medal Winners Announced 16th December 2005
The winners of the Silver Medal Awards were announced on Thursday at the 20th Royal Ulster Winter Fair
Emerald Isle Recycle won the Silver Medal and Leyland Cup with their Solway Bin and Liner System designed and patented at Dumfries in Scotland by Solway Recycling Ltd.
This Solway bin and liner recycling system is operated in Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic by Emerald Isle Recycle, Randalstown. Accepting the award a delighted Roy Livingston, Managing Director of Emerald Isle Recycle, said that keeping it simple was always the way to successful recycling.
With burial and burning no longer acceptable under Single Farm Payment cross compliance regulations, farmers have to prove safe disposal of waste plastic drums, bags and big bale silage film. The Solway bin and liner system is based on keeping plastic separated into three waste streams, which makes recycling viable with a tonne of crude oil, potentially, saved per 1.8 tonne of plastic collected from local farms.
Roy reports a steady stream of requests to address groups of farmers about the Solway System and plastic recycling in general. Indeed with Northern Ireland producing 15,000 tonne of waste farm plastic each year a large number of farms already have a Solway bin and liner system in place for safe and simple disposal of plastic. For further information or to arrange a guest speaker from Emerald Isle Recycle contact Roy Livingston direct on 07889 126895 or e-mail .
The judges noted that several hundred units are now in use in Northern Ireland and believe that the system provides a practical solution, at reasonable cost, to enable farmers to recycle plastic and help meet current and future waste control requirements.
The Silver Medal Competition, organised by the Royal Ulster Agricultural Society is for new farm machinery and equipment and has a long and prestigious history. It is open to all manufacturers who have new, innovative or improved products, machines or implements within agriculture, horticulture, forestry or estate management.
Improvements to Infrastructure
Solway Recycling Ltd is very please to announce that it has received a substantial cash injection by attracting outside investment which doubles the matched funding it has gained. Funds will allow the acquisition of new collection vehicles and new plant and machinery for processing fertiliser bags and chemical drums.
Plans have already been put in place to move some of the reprocessing line to a site near Carlisle. This will cut down on costly transportation of raw materials from collection sites further south. This is a great boost to the company.
Industry Links
Over the years we have forged many links with producers and reprocessors of plastics and part of the success of the business has been its ability to close the loop from end use to re-use. We now have links to reprocessors in the UK, Europe and China and we continue to search for other companies who can re-use and recycle waste products for UK Farming.
Near to home, we have recently been promoted by First Milk and ScotBeef. And we will be announcing new recycling initiatives with some leading fertilizer, agrichemical and film producers and distributors. They have chosen to work with us and promote the Solway system to all of their customers in the UK. The benefits of such strong industry links allows Solway to lobby against unnecessary and unwanted Levy systems, we see them as a backward step and potentially damaging to an industry that is positively moving away from subsidies.
Collectors
The Solway system has been very well received by many farmers, however we don't stop there. We offer a collection and recycling service of various materials commonly used in other parts of the industry including commercial horticulture, mushroom growers, soft fruit growers, aquaculture and forestry. In fact we collect wastes anywhere where there are materials to be recycled.
We have signed up many collectors across the UK who are very enthusiastic about our system and recycling. Collector businesses are completely autonomous and we do not charge a franchise fee. We supply Collectors with Bins and help organise the set-up of new business, and we help with global sales and marketing campaigns, technical input, and if needed management input.
We currently have vacancies for collectors in parts of Southern and Central England and parts of the West Midlands.
If you are interested phone the Solway office 01387 730666 and we will explain the system.
Costs
The cost of a Bin and 5 liners delivered anywhere in the UK is £250.00
The cost of a Bin and 10 liners delivered anywhere in the UK is £265.00
(Remember that you only buy the bin once).
Collection charges vary from region to region however you can expect to pay £17.50 to £30 per liner.
