Background
Bird Bros Ltd, a Bedfordshire-based producer and packer of eggs, was established in the mid-1960’s by twin brothers Carl and Peter Bird. At their ‘Sunny Farm’ headquarters, they process eggs from over 600,000 hens which are kept in both free range and enriched colony production systems, and are committed to caring for their livestock’s wellbeing. Happy hens lay better eggs!
The firm’s hens lay approximately 80% of the eggs they supply, obtaining the rest from carefully selected farmers located in the Midlands and East Anglia. Each week they ship out in excess of three million of them, with each one being exposed to high quality checks before being stamped with their own ‘best before’ date and the famous British Lion Quality seal of approval.
But, due to the nature of the business, a great deal of waste packaging is produced. In a move to become greener back in 2007, the company therefore decided to invest in a waste baler to deal with this volume of plastic, rather than utilising costly skips. Industry research brought the team to Riverside Waste Machinery, where managing director Jonathan Oldfield recommended the vertical RWM75 – a compact and cost-effective baler ideally suited to handling small volumes of waste.
Since then, they have used the machine to produce three 75kg bales of plastic per week, which various nearby companies have collected, providing Bird Bros with a small sum of money in return. The company has been extremely pleased with the investment, and experienced a return on this within only 3-4 years.
The Challenge
However, as the company has grown, inevitably so has their volume of waste. So, following a recent investment of £5 million in a brand new head office, packing centre and various renewable energy systems, their recycling processes also needed upgrading.
Matthew Bird, operations director, felt that the company should invest in another baler, to deal with the vast amount of excess cardboard being produced.
The Solution
This time around, Bird Bros did not deem it necessary to research potential providers.
Matthew says: “Back in 2007, Jonathan provided us with exactly what we needed. The baler was reasonably priced, plus we felt the quality and level of service we received from Riverside was second to none. As a result, they automatically sprang to mind when looking for our next baling solution.”
For this new recycling challenge, Jonathan recommended the RWM150, a medium sized baler suitable for larger volumes of packaging waste, and commonly used by manufacturers.
The Results
Matthew is extremely happy with the machine, which the firm uses to deal with all cardboard waste. Producing 3-4 bales of 150kg per week, Matthew continues: “This machine can handle larger pieces of cardboard up to a metre long, so is ideal for its purpose. It keeps costs down, the site is much tidier and more organised, plus for an ethically-minded company, it fits in with our vision of ‘being green’ and gives us something else to chirp about!”
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