Mar 16 2007
WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Programme) has been instrumental in securing £1 million of investment in recycling equipment for two companies in Northern Ireland, creating an additional 118,000 tonnes annual reprocessing capacity.
The investment represents another major milestone for WRAP’s highly successful eQuip Residual Value Guarantee Scheme, as Steve Creed, Director of Business Growth, explains: “The eQuip scheme has been an unqualified success with recyclers since it was introduced just three years ago. It has secured £16 million investment for UK companies to date, but this is the first time that the scheme has completed investments in Northern Ireland. We are delighted that we have been able to make such a significant contribution in the Province.”
Both funding deals were arranged through Bank of Scotland Corporate, a key lessor providing finance through the eQuip scheme. Chris Cresswell, Associate Director at Bank of Scotland Corporate, comments: “Operating in environmental industries can often require the use of new technologies that have not yet been proven. This can often present a barrier to entry for companies who may have difficulties finding lenders willing to invest in new and relatively unproven technologies, due to the risky nature of calculating the machinery’s residual value at the end of the lease period. “At Bank of Scotland Corporate we like to look at things differently, which is why we are delighted to be working alongside WRAP’s eQuip initiative. We believe that the scheme is an important catalyst for key investment for businesses in the fast expanding recycling sector.”
The first of the companies benefitting from the WRAP eQuip scheme is Irish Recycling Services, which operates a Materials Recovery Facility in Belfast that accepts waste from construction and demolition sources and skips as well as council amenity sites . It recovers glass, plastic, paper, aggregates and timber from the waste stream and used the eQuip scheme to secure £637,000 funding for a new screener, separator and conveyor system.
The second company, ISL Waste Management Limited, is based in Mallusk, County Antrim and sorts paper, cardboard and plastic. ISL successfully applied to eQuip for help securing finance for a new sorting line to increase its processing capacity to 18,000 tonnes per year.
Unique to the recycling sector, the eQuip RVG scheme helps to secure funding for growth by guaranteeing the future residual value of leased recycling equipment. Historically, banks or lease finance providers have been reluctant to provide leases for new and specialist technologies, but with the residual value underwritten by eQuip, the scheme’s ten finance providers are more comfortable about providing lease deals on recycling equipment. They are also usually able to offer more competitive lease terms and flexible repayment options with the support of the guarantee.
eQuip is just one of the many services available via WRAP Business Support, which offers recycling companies a one-stop shop for business advice and support.