RWM LetsRecycleLive 2022

Yesterday, the Flame UK marketing team took a trip to the NEC in Birmingham to attend day one of the RWM LetsRecycleLive 2022 show. The exhibition was a great insight into the future of waste management and a chance for the team to see equipment and trucks live in their intended environment.

Across the nine different zones, hundreds of exhibitors took to the NEC to show off their newest inventions to help increase sustainability in the waste sector. As well as the exhibitors, there were live demos of different pieces of equipment and companies were given the chance to show off their newest vehicles for managing waste.

Our team saw three different industrial shredders in action and a demonstration of a new piece of fire suppression equipment. They also got the chance to see the newest vehicles in waste management in the ‘Trucks in Action’ demonstration zones. This showed off brand new forklift vehicles, used for lifting cardboard bales, and electric waste collection lorries.

There were also lots of talks from experts in the sector. The talks covered topics from the future of plastic packaging to equality and diversity within the waste sector. One of the talks our team attended was called Smart Sustainable Plastic Packaging where Gareth Morton from Flexible Plastic Fund spoke about their research into ensuring that harder-to-recycle plastics, such as bags, pouches, or envelopes, are properly recycled.

What were our favourite parts?

Lauren – “It was great to see all the new inventions to help improve sustainability within the waste sector. Polypipe showed their new plans to create more green spaces in urban areas by installing roof gardens on different buildings in cities. Their smart blue-green roofs will use rainwater to keep the roof garden healthy and reduce the risk of flooding as the water can’t run off the roof into sewers. I thought this was a brilliant way to make cities greener and protect the environment.”

Sarah – “My favourite part was definitely ‘Trucks in Action’. It was interesting to see all the newest vehicles on the market and how they can increase efficiency. We got to see refuse collection vehicles, grab loaders, and street sweepers and see how they’re used. We also heard from their manufacturers and operators and got to learn more about each truck.”

Jess – “I really enjoyed seeing the live equipment demonstrations. We saw three different types of shredders in use as well as dust suppression equipment. It was great to see all this equipment be used as some hadn’t even been used in Europe before.”

Kane – “It was really interesting to see some of the new pieces of waste collection equipment, in particular, the JellyfishBot from P&D Marine Services. The remote-controlled machine is used to collect waste from waterways, lakes, and canals using a net. It has different nets for different waste so it can collect anything from general waste to microplastics and even oil.”