Weighbridge on a Slope Accurately Records Waste Paper

Sloping ground proved no problem for the installation of a new weighbridge by Avery Weigh-Tronix engineers.  The company installed the 15 metre pit mounted weighbridge system to help PHS Datashred maintain accurate records for recycled paper.

Increased accuracy accounts for 7.5 tonnes per week

Installed at the company’s Crayford site in Kent, the new weighbridge system is helping the company account for an extra 7.5 tonnes per week of recycled paper bales.

Says Andy Redgrave, Southern Regional Operations Manager at PHS Datashred:  “On average we have 15 x 25 tonne loads of recycled paper leaving the site every week. We were losing the equivalent of ½ tonne per load by not being able to accurately weigh it when it left our site.  We relied on axle weighing to give an estimate, but this was far from ideal.”

Sloping ground proves no issue

“Clearly this was something that we wanted to address, both for our own efficiency and also to help continue to meet the needs of ISO 14001.  The site where we wanted to install the weighbridge had sloping ground and only Avery Weigh-Tronix were confident in installing a legal for trade weighbridge system for us.”

Legal for trade weighing

“While most of our recycled paper is delivered by our own drivers for export and can be weighed at our customer’s site, we still needed an accurate system at our site to verify weights for our own processes and efficiency.  Also, if a customer in the UK needs to collect recycled materials, we need our own legal for trade weighbridge to complete the transaction.

“While recycling paper is the main part of our business, we also recycle other materials and the weighbridge is essential for recording this.  Finally as part of our ongoing commitment to ISO 14001, we have set a target to reduce the amount of waste that we as a company send to landfill and to achieve this we need accurate data on an ongoing basis.”

PHS Datashred is the UK’s leading national provider of secure document and data shredding services.  In addition, the company will help organisations recycle mixed materials such as paper, cans, glass, cardboard and plastic, plus IT Equipment and lamps and also dispose of hazardous waste.