Glass crusher to be rolled out to more pubs, restaurants and hotels following trial success

16-May-2012 - Last updated on 26-Apr-2021 at 17:55 GMT

The Ekko glass crusher can be installed behind the bar and reduces the amount of space needed to store glass

An engineering firm has partnered with recycling company Ekko to roll-out a glass crusher to more pubs, restaurants and hotels following a successful trial in 100 companies, including pub-restaurant chain Mitchells & Butlers.

The machine compacts glass bottles and then collects them on-site at any business with a large amount of glass waste, reducing glass waste volume by 80 per cent and thereby cancelling out the need for large wheelie bins.

Brian Williamson, director of Ekko Glass Crush and Collect, said: “One of the main hurdles to glass being recovered from the hospitality sector is the lack of storage space available at the properties.

“There is an increasing trend for ‘behind-the-bar’ in house compactors to be used to compact glass before collection which reduces the amount of space required to store the empty bottles and the frequency of collections required."

Changes

Tharsus engineering worked with Ekko on its Glass Crush and Collect machine to finely tune the device and make it comply with international safety standards.

Engineers have also tweaked the machines to ensure that those using them don’t come into contact with glass shards.

Tharsus chief executive Brian Palmer said: “Working closely with the team at Ekko, we were asked to redesign the product to optimise throughout and satisfy international safety standards, while still meeting their commercial and technical specifications.

“In order to protect the operator we have redesigned the unit so that once the bottle is placed into the chute, the opening is closed off before the machine can crush the glass.”

Expected to be available by the end of the year, the new unit utilises the latest technology to make recycling more time and cost efficient, deconstructing all glass in one unit and reducing overall waste disposal costs for businesses by up to 40 per cent.