Cromwell Polythene News

Bag it - then bin it, says Rhondda Cynon Taf Council

Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council (RCT) has launched an imaginative scheme aimed at encouraging local youngsters to recycle their lunchtime litter, while also reducing the volume of such litter on the routes to and from school and in the town centre.

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Known as the Respect project, the initiative is the brainchild of the Streetcare Cleansing team, which noted an increase in the amount of litter in the town centre, where comprehensive school students congregate to eat their lunch. In a bid to encourage them to take their litter away, the students are being provided with free plastic carrier bags by their schools, while specially liveried recycling bins have been placed in five of the comprehensives – hopefully to be expanded to all 19 in the county borough.

The multi compartment containers allow students to recycle plastics, cans, food waste and general litter, including the degradable plastic carrier bags, supplied by Leeds based Cromwell Polythene.

The bright green bags feature the Respect logo, which has been designed by the RCT design team themselves and which also appears on the recycling containers and in promotional literature supporting the scheme. "The vest-style carrier bags, normally supplied for retail use, are printed in bold primary colours to give them a more ‘cool’ appearance and avoid the students feeling self-conscious about using them," according to Paul Fleetwood, sales director, Cromwell Polythene, which has supplied an initial 100,000 bags to kick start the Respect programme.

Students are being encouraged to form their own eco groups to monitor and motivate their peers, with the incentive of a cash reward, linked to the volume of recyclate that they collect, to the school that tops the Respect league table at the end of the year.

"We take waste and litter seriously in Rhondda Cynon Taf and continue to invest heavily in ensuring that we educate people to think greener and recycle everything that we can. Lunchtime litter has been a problem in Rhondda Cynon Taf for many years and it won’t be tolerated anymore," said Councillor Anthony Christopher, deputy leader and cabinet member for front line services. "The careless littering carried out by many young people is illegal and causes problems for residents and the Streetcare team. Litter in the streets has a detrimental impact on the environment and public health," he added.

"As well as creating unsightly environmental conditions, the offence can attract vermin. In addition, the clean-up costs of the increased litter and waste places a financial burden on the local authority, which inevitably ends up being passed on to taxpayers."

Cromwell expands recycling service

Cromwell Polythene, the leading independent supplier of sacks, bags and speciality products for the storage and collection of waste and recyclables, is expanding its recycling division with the introduction of a local resource recovery service, aimed at SMEs within a 75 mile radius of the company’s Leeds headquarters.

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The scheme is in addition to the nation-wide collections that Cromwell provides to companies which generate large volumes of post-industrial and post-consumer waste. The new resource recovery arm will collect smaller loads – typically just over one tonne and made up of polythene, hard plastics, board and other transit packaging materials.

"We will be able to collect loads as low as 100 kgs with the smaller vehicle that we will be operating locally," says recycling director Mark Fuller.
"What this means is that those businesses which normally fall under the radar of the big waste management companies now have a means of recovering and recycling some of the bulkier materials from the waste stream, avoiding sending it to landfill and potentially generating an additional revenue stream. Where required, we can even help suppliers identify recoverable elements from their waste stream, providing independent advice on suitable machinery, including balers," he added.

Rushcliffe's battery recycling brings "positive" results

So successful is Rushcliffe Borough Council's battery recycling scheme, that even the specially printed Batteries2go bags, in which local residents store their batteries for doorstep collection, are being reprocessed.

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The Batteries2go scheme, in which more than 26 tons of household batteries have been recovered in less than three years - equivalent to some 673,000 batteries - will enable Cromwell Polythene, the original bag supplier, to return the used bags to the production cycle, where they will be used as the raw material in the manufacture of new products. Meanwhile, the batteries will be sent for reprocessing.

Commenting on the success of the scheme, Rushcliffe’s cabinet member for the environment Cllr Debbie Mason said: "With more than 600 million batteries thrown way in the UK every year, Rushcliffe’s residents can be justifiably proud of what they have achieved since the scheme began in 2008. Not only have we diverted tons of harmful chemicals from landfill, but we’ve also been instrumental in this ‘new bags for old’ recycling scheme."

Cromwell provides dual focus at this year's RWM

Cromwell Polythene returns to the RWM exhibition (NEC, 13-15 September, 2011) with a focus on two of its specialist divisions.

Cromwell Polythene (Stand 1472) will showcase two of its specialist divisions at this year’s RWM exhibition - the recycling division, which recovers post-industrial and post-consumer packaging waste for re-processing and the councils division, which supplies storage and collection products for a wide range of recycling and waste management applications in both the public and private sectors.

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The recycling division is key to Cromwell Polythene’s 'closed loop' sustainability strategy, recovering a wide range of used plastics, which serve as the main feedstock for the production of Cromwell’s refuse and recycling sacks. The division also recovers card and other materials from companies engaged in food manufacture, agriculture, retail, pharmaceuticals and from the waste management sector.

Of particular interest to the local authority and waste management sectors, for which Cromwell Polythene has sole distribution rights in England and Wales, will be the recently launched range of compostable bags made from Ecopond^® biodegradable resin. The bags are already proving popular with councils running organic waste recycling schemes. Denbighshire County Council, for example, has provided seven-litre Ecopond^® kitchen caddy liners to its local residents, leading to improved participation in its food waste collection scheme, while householders in Southwark are being provided with larger Ecopond^® sacks for their garden waste.

"Ecopond^® ticks all of the boxes among those for whom biodegradability is of prime importance," says James Lee, Cromwell Polythene’s managing director.
"The bags are manufactured from starch or lactide acid-based derivatives of plant sources and meet all of the stringent requirements of the European composting standard, which requires that more than 90 per cent of the plastic mass to be converted into biomass, CO2 and water, without harmful residue. Ecopond^® sacks fully decompose within the normal 6-10 week composting cycle and are accredited to meet EN13432, he adds."

Other products for the recycling and waste management sector will also be on show, including Cromwell’s exclusive LOWCO₂T™ range of refuse sacks, bin liners and similar products, which use the latest technology to produce lighter weight materials at lower cost without any loss of performance; the 'Kerby' woven polypropylene sacks for recycling and kerbside waste; paper composting sacks, degradable refuse sacks, all sizes of battery bags, dog waste bags and a full range of clinical waste sacks for the healthcare market.

Wave goodbye to latex says Cromwell

Latex-free disposable gloves range makes its debut

Cromwell Polythene, the leading independent supplier of sacks, bags and speciality products for the storage and collection of waste and recyclables, has launched a range of latex-free, disposable examination gloves for professional use.

Manufactured under the 'Wave' brand, the gloves will be sold through Cromwell's distributor network and are suitable for janitorial and cleaning applications, as well as the healthcare, food and hygiene, waste management, agricultural and automotive sectors.

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The Wave range includes a blue nitrile, non-sterile examination glove – finger textured and with all the barrier properties of latex, at significantly lower cost and two low-budget vinyl products – a clear vinyl glove, which has a smooth internal finish and is suitable for a wide range of low-risk applications and a synthetic vinyl glove for those who prefer a softer, more flexible fit.

All of the gloves are tested to BS EN 455, are powder-free and available in a range of sizes. Packed 100 gloves per dispenser box, the gloves come in outers of 10 boxes.

"The Wave range represents our first serious move in the gloves market, where we'll be adopting the same quality and value-for-money principles that we apply to our bags, sacks and other products," says Cromwell Polythene director Paul Fleetwood.
"Our research shows that there is a sizeable demand for good quality gloves that provide all of the comfort and performance attributes of latex, but at a lower cost and without the allergy issues with which the material is often associated."

Cromwell Polythene welcomes EA draft report

Leeds based Cromwell Polythene has today (22 February 2011) welcomed the draft Environment Agency report: "Life Cycle Assessment of Supermarket Carrier Bags", obtained by the Independent on Sunday and said to portray plastic carrier bags in a more favourable light.

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In a letter to Dr Paul Leinster, the Environment Agency’s chief executive, urging him to prioritise final publication of the assessment, Cromwell Polythene’s managing director James Lee says:
"It is regretful that the official report has yet to be published, especially as it will be too late to make a difference in Wales, where the decision by the Welsh Assembly to impose a punitive tax on single use carrier bags has already been taken, forcing retailers to charge 5p for each such bag issued. It is important not to lose sight of the burden on businesses forced to change established practice and collect the tax, as well as the enormous administrative costs to be borne by local authorities and the taxpayer for its policing and collection."

"It is clear from the overwhelming weight of scientific evidence – both in the report and elsewhere – that the Welsh Assembly’s decision is wrong and exposes those responsible for misleading the public through environmental scaremongering. Moreover, late publication of this important assessment may be unintentionally responsible for greater harm to the environment, by encouraging members of the public to use more damaging alternatives.

To add insult to environmental injury, the people of Wales are to be taxed for the privilege. Let us hope that the full report is published soon and in time to influence members of the Scottish Parliament, the Northern Ireland Assembly and others, who even now may still be considering legislation to tax or ban plastic bags, including single use carriers, or declaring themselves plastic bag-free towns or cities."

Commenting on the draft report, which the Environment Agency says is still being peer reviewed, James Lee says:
"If what the Independent on Sunday claims is indeed true, then it’s great to see some balance finally being restored into the environmental debate surrounding the humble plastic carrier bag and the facts need to be made available to a wider audience without any further delay. Then, supported by the weight of scientific evidence, polythene carrier bags may hopefully earn a reprieve from their undeserved reputation as icons of consumerism."

Cromwell awarded Ecopond^® distribution rights

Cromwell Polythene has been appointed sole distributor for Ecopond^® compostable bags among local authorities and the waste management sector in England and Wales.

The appointment represents a major development for the Leeds based supplier of bags to the waste and recycling industry and the company has already secured its first significant Ecopond^® contract with an order for 8.2 million compostable kitchen caddy liners for Denbighshire County Council.

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The five-litre bags, which will be supplied over a two-year period, conform to European standard EN 13432 and will be distributed free of charge to local residents as part of a recycling strategy that helped Denbighshire top the 2009 recycling league table for Welsh local authorities.

The kitchen caddy liners represent part of a broader range of biodegradable bags for the collection of kitchen and garden waste. Manufactured from starch or lactide acid-based derivatives of plant sources, the Ecopond^® products meet the stringent requirements of the European composting standard, requiring more than 90 per cent of the plastic mass to be converted into biomass, CO₂ and water, without harmful residue. The range is made from a fully formulated bio-plastic, based on polyesters of polyactide acid (PLA) and other proprietary ingredients, derived from vegetable material. Sacks fully decompose within the normal 6-10 week composting cycle.

Announcing the distribution agreement operations director Garth Imison said:
"We are flattered to have been selected to handle Ecopond^® distribution in selected English and Welsh markets and delighted to have got off to a flying start with our first significant order for Denbighshire County Council."

Cromwell Polythene expansion

Leading supplier of sacks, bags, and other polythene waste management products for the janitorial, local authority and healthcare sectors, Leeds-based Cromwell Polythene has moved to new premises, nearly doubling its existing warehouse and office facilities.

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The company's new 30,000 sq. ft. headquarters will accommodate some 3,000 pallets and are in addition to its 10,000 sq. ft. dedicated recycling plant nearby.

The move, the company's third since it was founded 27 years ago, will allow continued expansion as Cromwell builds on its existing £9m sales turnover.
"We are fortunate in having identified a site with great growth potential close to our existing location and within a short travelling distance of our Moxon Way recycling facility," says managing director James Lee. "We have ambitious growth targets across all our specialist divisions, which will be that much easier to achieve with the increased efficiencies that the new premises provide."

"Since moving to Sherburn-in-Elmet in 2002 we have been joined by Sainsburys, Eddie Stobart, and now Debenhams, all of whom operate state-of-the-art RDC's, proving that Sherburn-in-Elmet really is in a prime location for UK-wide istribution, as it is located so close to main north-south and east-west arterial routes."

Cromwell Polythene stocks sacks and bags in most size, shape and colour variations, using both virgin and high quality recycled blends, depending on the application, as well as gloves, aprons and a wide choice of other polythene disposables for the washroom and sanitary waste service industries. The company also runs a thriving recycling division, ecovering used packaging for its production partners, for whom it serves as a valuable feedstock for re-manufacturing into Cromwell's popular range of fit for purpose refuse sacks.

The new address is:
Orion Building
Seafox Court
Sherburn Enterprise Park
Sherburn-in-Elmet
Leeds
North Yorkshire
LS25 6PL

Telephone and fax numbers remain unchanged.