2 Million Recycled Milk Bottles Land at RAF Lossiemouth

Polypipe Civils & Green Urbanisation has supplied a range of specialist products to VolkerFitzpatrick for the recent refurbishment of the runways at RAF Lossiemouth, a £75 million contract to prepare the Moray base for the arrival of nine P-8A Poseidon Maritime Patrol Aircraft.

VolkerWessels UK, parent company of VolkerFitzpatrick has committed to a ‘Decade of Action’ within its ‘People-Planet-Purpose’ sustainability framework with 23 high level metrics to measure and monitor its performance. Within the ‘Planet pillar’ is a commitment to a fully embedded approach to a circular economy which aims to design for sustainability and minimise waste.

For the RAF Lossiemouth project, a grand total of 2,174,600 milk bottles would have been recycled and used in the products supplied by Polypipe. The company prides itself on producing as much of its product using recycled materials as possible with many products including Ridgiduct, the main product supplied for this project made from 100% recycled materials.

“The use of recycled materials is becoming more important as the construction industry and the country move towards a zero-carbon future,” says James Haddon, Key Account Manager of Polypipe Civils & Green Urbanisation who managed the delivery of the products for this project closely with Ross Millar Technical Sales Manager of Polypipe. “We have invested millions building a recycling and polymer processing plant at our Horncastle site which ensures we control and maintain consistency across all our manufacturing operations.”

Quality is of utmost importance to Polypipe and all materials undergo rigorous inspections through the company’s on-site UKAS accredited quality control laboratory. This unique facility plays a key role in supporting the development of new material formulations that help contractors increase their contribution to the circular economy.

The processing plant ensures that no ‘production offcuts’ go to waste as the material is reprocessed through the plant.

“With such a large amount of ducting required at RAF Lossiemouth, I was confident that Polypipe Civils & Green Urbanisation had the capability to deliver for us,” comments Jack Starmer, Senior Buyer of VolkerFitzpatrick. “I’ve used Polypipe numerous times in the past with great service and I was pleased to come to an agreement with them for this project.

“I have a personal interest in recycling and sustainable solutions and was thrilled to hear that over 2m recycled milk bottles were used for this project. Having watched the video of their polymer processing plant, I was delighted to see how thorough, efficient and sustainable the process is.

“It is great for VolkerFitzpatrick to be part of such initiatives and relay the good news stories back to our clients. The overall service from Polypipe was excellent and it was arranged for product to be held at the company’s Glasgow site to allow for easier transportation to our project.”