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The Great Southern Drive

Plasterboard recycling company PRG, set to transform service delivery in the UK with Southern expansion

The company, formerly known as Agricore and based in Darlington, acquired the business interests of southern-based company Plasterboard Recycling Solutions (PRS) in 2021 and has since rebranded as Plasterboard Recycling Group (PRG).

There is now a new phase of growth on the horizon for PRG, which will see the construction of a 100t per hour, 250,000 tonne per year recycling facility, that will service the south of England, the Midlands and Wales. After procuring PRS, the company sought to upscale, sourcing and securing a new, large, five-acre site in Avonmouth for the job. The new site will allow up to four wagons to tip and load at the same time, ensuring a faster turnaround for customers and hauliers, and avoiding unnecessary wait times that can often lead to increased costs for clients. Due for completion in spring 2023, the addition of this site will increase the company’s UK-wide recycling capacity to a reliable 325,000t/year.

From its humble beginnings as a small-scale farm diversification in 2011, recycling a few thousand tonnes of plasterboard in its first year, company director Ian Bainbridge led the business through a period of accelerated growth. PRG now services the whole of the UK, with plasterboard arriving from businesses ranging from skip operators to large national waste management firms, as well as providing our products to leading multinationals.

Company Director Ian Bainbridge commented: “Our first plant recycled only a few thousand tonnes of plasterboard in its first year. At the same time, I had co-founded what became Warrens Emerald Biogas, one of the largest food waste AD plants in the UK, producing 7MW of electricity and biomethane. What followed was a period of fast growth culminating in a 75,000t per annum plant being installed at our site near Darlington.”

But the company has not been without its challenges over recent times, enduring industry wide supply issues, driver shortages, increased fuel prices and limited availability of parts and general labour. In addition, the company faced several unexpected setbacks shortly after acquiring PRS, including equipment reaching the end of its useful lifespan and the need to replace and upgrade the line ahead of the main expansion, all whilst trying to keep servicing customers.

“We know our clients have recently felt the impact of hold ups, which has been frustrating for us all. But moving forward to spring 2023, we are going to be able to deliver faster, more efficient processes on a huge scale. Our focus is to keep identifying issues and improving - in the medium term we will make sure we look after our customers whilst implementing our long-term plans.”

The industry is still facing serious challenges concerning product quality and outlets for finished products - gypsum and paper. But with customer focus and continuous improvement at the forefront of its operations, PRG has had a keen eye on the newest technologies and processes that will develop its service provision.

A recent development for the company is a research project into cleaning the paper recovered in the recycling process, for use across multiple industries.

“Continuous development of processes and products will ultimately allow us to create more secure, better value outlets, allowing us to provide our customers with competitive gate fees and more capacity. We have also secured long term contracts with several multinationals for the off-take of 200,000t of gypsum per annum.

“We have built a fantastic relationship with our clients over the years, and we understand that having a reliable off-take is everything. We believe our new plant will give our customers the security of outlet that they require in the long term.” With a clear vision and strategic plan going forward, PRG is offering enhanced solutions for clients, with its expansion set to transform processing capacity in the UK.

Once the new plant is built and commissioned, attention will be turned to ‘greening the fleet’ with biomethane wagons being used to deliver to industrial partners nearby, utilising local HGV biomethane fuelling stations.

Commercial Director, Rory McKibbin said: “These are very exciting and challenging times for PRG. Since I joined Ian at Agricore in 2013, we have achieved rapid growth and expansion of the business, during which time we have evolved from processing 8,500 tonnes of plasterboard per annum to currently just shy of 250,000 tonnes through a combination of organic growth and acquisition.

“When the opportunity arose to purchase PRS, it seemed a natural fit with our Plasterboard recycling company PRG, strategic aims of becoming the UK’s only truly national multi-site plasterboard recycler and we could see many synergies and efficiencies that we could harness from within the combined operations.

“Over the last three years, we have recovered 99.18% of the material we took in by weight.

"We continue to be innovative with our end product range and continue to research and develop new markets for recovered materials. Whilst it comes with a tinge of nostalgic sadness to change the name of Agricore Ltd., I am very enthusiastic about the future and prospects of PRG Ltd."