Located in the disused buildings of a former landfill on the Apsley Estate near Andover, Kitson Recycling Ltd collects and recycles a full range of recyclable wastes from farms throughout the south of England, including plastics, tyres, shotgun cartridges and many different hazardous wastes.
The business was started in 2006 just before legislation changed to compel farmers to deal with their waste in a more environmentally friendly way, banning farm burning and burying. Over the years Kitson’s customer base has steadily grown to over 1800 regular farmers. The change in legislation has helped tidy up many farms with recycling now being part of a farm’s daily routine.
Kitson Recycling is owned and run by Ian Kitson. “From the start we have worked with Solway Recycling using their Bin and Liner system which works very well for our customers, giving them a user-friendly efficient method to collect, compact and store their plastics which cannot be mixed within each liner. The liners are clear, so any contamination is clearly visible and when full, they are the size of a round bale,” says Ian. “By using the liners, it makes our collection more efficient, being able to put 30 or so well filled liners on to our lorry in one load which is normally two or more customers annual plastic collection. This is particularly important when we are travelling to the far end of our area in Kent or Somerset! We charge per liner discounting the cost for larger collections of 20 or more liners, so our system suits both large estates and owners of small holdings alike with no annual fees, just simply pay as you go. We charge the same to collect regardless whether you are relatively local to our yard or at the far end of our area. Our local farmers can deliver to our yard by arrangement for a reduced fee.
“We operate the largest area in the country with Solway Recycling and are one of a few of the original collectors from when the Solway National Farmers recycling service commenced back in 2006.
“Customers purchase the bins from us, many are still using the original bins from 12 years ago! We have sold over 5000 Solway bins since we started. We have not increased our per liner collection charges since then. We are able to achieve this because as our customer base increased so has our efficiency, the business still only employs me and our long-term lorry driver and yard man David Pepper who has been with us for over seven years. We collect the plastics either with our dedicated grab lorry, so we can load without impacting on the customers daily routine, or for smaller collections or sites with limited lorry access we can collect with a large trailer and 4×4 vehicle. By weight we collect mostly silage wrap, but we also collect silage sheet, polythene feed bags, fertiliser bags, triple rinsed and drained spray cans, string, net wrap, plastic buckets, dry cardboard and paper feed bags each separately bagged in Solway liners. By using the liners, we can simply collect a farm’s entire plastic in one annual visit, although the actual timing is up to the customer, with the frequency depending on the customer’s circumstances.
“We also work with FWAG South West and operate their 14 on farm plastic collection hubs in Somerset, Dorset and Devon,” continued Ian. “This provides a recycling service to an additional 600 farmers in the spring of each year, we employ an additional two staff members to help with this. We have been working with FWAG southwest for over 10 years now.”
With the knock-on effects of the clamp down on poor practice in China and now Asia in general, the plastics have become much harder to send on for reuse, and the days of dirty mixed plastics being shipped abroad are a thing of the past. The Kitson system when used correctly enables farmers to simply and correctly segregate their plastic at the point of use. It can then be recycled in a simple, efficient manner. Kitson Recycling has always sent its plastics to recyclers in the UK or Europe when possible, which should stand the company in a good sted as the ongoing situation gets more difficult as it is expected to become. Any farmers who do not segregate their plastics properly either pay for additional sorting or pay for the plastic to be used in waste to energy plants which is considerably costlier.
“We also collect and recycle waste tyres from farms, clearing the tyres from silage clamps or just on going changing of tyres from tractors or farm machinery,” says Ian. “Over the years we have cleared many hundreds of thousands of tyres from silage clamps. This large tyre collection is now less frequent as it is always a one off for each farm. We are regularly called in to help when a farm changes hands as the new owner or occupier does not want the old tyres to become his responsibility!
“We offer a full range of hazardous waste collection, from oil filters and empty oil cans or grease cartridges, bulk collections of waste oil from the farm workshop to collections of vet medicine waste such as used syringes, dry cow tubes, sharps boxes and empty vet medicine bottles. Each of these wastes go into suitable sealed containers for onward disposal.”
Kitson Recycling regularly collects and sends for disposal unused or out of date agricultural pesticides, this can range from a single bottle of left over chemical found during an inspection, to a previously hidden stockpile in an unused shed. Kitson Recycling got involved in a DEFRA amnesty a few years ago and cleared over 80 tonnes of old pesticides in an 18-month period.
The company can offer farmers a full range of products made from some of the plastics collected from stokboard to chicken and pig houses to picnic tables and benches through Solway Recycling.
Despite the current difficulties within the plastic recycling market Ian says he is providing a vital service to the farming industry, helping farmers to comply with current and future legislation and best practice.
