When HW Martin required a state-of-the-art RDF facility, they chose OKLM to design and build the plant and the revolutionary new UNTHA TR Series shredder, supplied by Riverside Waste Machinery, to fulfil their high-performance shredding requirements.
This is the first UK installation for UNTHA’s new TR Series shredding technology which was developed specifically for the processing of Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) substances and will enable HW Martin to generate 30,000 tonnes of RDF in its first year of operation.
HW Martin’s new revolutionary RDF plant at Northampton is the latest recycling facility for the Derbyshire-based Martin Group which employees 500 people and has been providing waste recycling and management services to the public and private sectors for over 30 years. Their lead supplier, OKLM Recycling Technology, is a leading design-and-build plant builder specialising in Materials Recycling Facilities (MRFs), waste treatment plants and RDF plants and has worked with HW Martin for several years.
Mark Faulconbridge of HW Martin explains why he backed the selection of the UNTHA TR Series: “We considered a number of different shredders but were attracted by the cost efficiencies that the TR Series offers. We visited the UNTHA factory with OKLM and also a client site in Austria to see the shredder in action. We were very impressed by the quality of the machinery we saw there and the benefits that could be achieved at our new plant.”
The HW Martin team played a key role in research, development and testing during the commissioning of the TR series.
“There are always a number of challenges when introducing new machinery into a new plant, especially when the timescales are tight but the installation team worked incredibly hard to hit our tight 6-week deadline. OKLM, UNTHA, Riverside and our internal team all pulled together and reacted quickly to ensure that the build programme was on schedule,” Faulconbridge adds.
The TR Series is the first machinery of its kind to be introduced to the UK’s secondary shredding market. Its design has received much acclaim and has even been compared to the iconic Dyson vacuum cleaner because ergonomically every element of the machine’s design has been carefully considered to improve operator experience, whilst at the same time providing enhanced efficiency.
The revolutionary design has been engineered to resolve many of the common problems found in traditional shredders. For example a quick change cutting system allows cutters to be replaced in less than 1 hour, a significant improvement on the eight-hour repair process for some traditional machines.
Operator safety and ease of use are also integral to the design. The machine’s parts are all easily accessible and the automatic foreign object detection system eliminates damage to the shredder and has removed the need for operators to climb into the machine to recover objects. In addition, the external panels and frame have been filled with quartz sand to minimise noise and vibration.
“The UNTHA TR shredder was chosen by OKLM because it mirrored our own approach to product and plant design: namely, everything has to be about the end-user and making life as easy and as cost-effective as possible for their future operation,” said Antonia Kay, Sales Director of OKLM.
HW Martin is the first UK company to enjoy the benefits that the TR Series brings. In its first year of operation the plant will have generated 30,000 tonnes of RDF, which can all be counted towards landfill diversion targets set by the EU.
Riverside Waste Machinery’s managing director Chris Oldfield says: “EU landfill diversion initiatives are placing unprecedented pressures on central government and in turn the waste management industry to find alternative solutions to processing waste. It is promising to see companies like HW Martin investing in technology that will increase the output of RDF. It’s an issue that isn’t going to go away and demand for the services of companies like HW Martin is sure to grow.
