A waste baling machine has won this year’s Green Supplier and Innovation Award at Vision 2025’s Sustainable Events Summit. Waste Baling Machines’ Recycling Processing Unit (RPU) – a self-contained unit which contains all the equipment and machinery event organisers need to start processing their recyclable cardboard, aluminium, glass and soft plastics on site – won the accolade last week (October 18).

Separating waste streams on site enables organisers to bring control back to the event team, and see much higher recycling rates.  The machine compacts recyclables into stackable bales between 10-20 per cent the volume of loose waste, reducing the amount of storage space, the frequency of waste collections, and the number of removal vehicles needed. This drastically reduces the carbon footprint.

The RPU – by Waste Baling Machines – was launched at the Green Man Festival in Crickhowell this summer. The festival saw a 70 per cent reduction in its carbon footprint when it came to dealing with recyclables. For example, 36m³ of aluminium drinks cans (enough to fill an artic) were baled into neat stackable cubes taking up just 3m^3. The drinks can were then easily transported in a small van!