Gypsum Recycling UK Ltd has rolling out an innovative recycling and collection system for plasterboard waste in the UK, in response to new legislation.

The system assures that Gypsum Recycling UK Ltd can collect and recycle plasterboard waste from Kent over Wales and the Midlands and back again over London.

The recycling system, which also is operational in Ireland and Northern Ireland, generates a gypsum raw material substituting virgin gypsum raw materials in industrial production.

The collection system is based on the usage of a purpose built plasterboard waste grab truck, that significantly reduces one of the inherent problems of transporting plasterboard waste: It is bulky, but does not weigh a lot, making the transport cost per tonne of waste much more significant than for other waste streams.


The grab truck overcomes this problem by grabbing the plasterboard waste out from the skips or containers instead of interchanging a full skip or container with an empty.

This makes it possible for the grab truck to collect the waste from several skips and containers before it returns to the recycling facility, instead of having to return every single time a skip or container have been emptied. It can even pick up big bags.

This so-called milk round approach is made possible by the on-board crane and grab system, that in addition also squeezes the waste to increase the density, making the collection even more economically.

Gypsum can service skip operators on their own site as well as on their customers’ sites if they set out big bags or skips for segregated plasterboard waste only.

Using the special plasterboard waste grab truck Gypsum Recycling UK is capable of servicing customers with a 300 miles radius from its recycling facilities in Rochester, Kent, as transport costs are kept down by the use of the special truck.

Recycling facilities also exist in Dublin and Downpatrick.