Power station operators

Waste uPVC media from forced draft cooling tower
Forced draft cooling tower: Approximately 13 tonnes of plastic are in each cell, with 12 cells on an example site. Due to contamination this can weigh up to 250 tonnes. The BM Tech compactor can help reduce the transport from 57 loads to 11, significantly reducing CO2 emissions for transport.

You take your corporate social responsibility to protect the environment seriously and are already committed to see materials being recycled at the end of their working life. Did you know that your cooling towers probably contain a large amount of plastic? When this material needs to be replaced, the best practise means avoiding landfill and recycling this plastic!

Waste plastic fill media
Waste plastic fill media used in cooling towers and trickle filter beds (the shovel helps to understand the scale)

Plastic fill media is a honeycomb type of structure used in cooling towers (and water treatment works). The honeycomb design creates a very large surface area. The media is often in large blocks, frequently described as “pack” or “fill”. Plastic fill media is made from either uPVC or, in more recent installations, Polypropylene. The fill media has a working life of typically around 25 years.

By the end of life, the pack material is heavily contaminated, typically with limescale and silt from the cooling water. In the past this made it too hard to recycle and used material was sent to landfill. The good news is that uPVC can be recycled several times. Rather than see your waste uPVC as a candidate for landfill, it can be recycled and reused.

BM Tech is able to recycle uPVC from plastic fill media, therefore supporting your environmental requirements and helping to improve environmental target achievement by Reducing, Reusing and Recycling this material. No longer can Landfill and Energy from waste options for this kind of media be considered as best practice. We even make sure the silt is recycled to become topsoil!
Please call 07947 352934 to find out how we could help you. Avoid landfill, insist on recycling with BM Tech.

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