Braemar Howells Perform 'Rena' Cargo Recycling Coup

The Braemar recovery team recovered 167 tonnes of butterfat from the wrecked containership 'Rena' –  now  repackaged for recycling into biodiesel fuel.

Braemar Operations Manager Neil Lloyd says that over the course of the project, some large quantities of cargo have been recycled. "It’s a small environmental coup to be able to recycle such big quantities of a cargo, which at one stage was earmarked as waste."

"Without the efforts of our team, including distressed cargo, port and waste specialists, and our local environmental partner, this would have been dumped into a landfill site. Instead, it will go towards powering vehicles."

Neil Lloyd says that re-packaging the butterfat was a tricky task because the product was in bladders which had 'ballooned' out of shape when the cardboard boxes they were in disintegrated. "We designed equipment that allowed us to squeeze the semi-soft material into one metre containers holding one tonne each. It was like juggling with jelly."

The owners and insurers of the Rena are pleased with the quantities of material we have been able to re-use or recycle, Mr Lloyd says.

At the beginning of the month Braemar had 140 containers of recovered cargo on the books. "We’ve managed to recycle 60 containers out of that – including steel scrap, timber and milk fat. Over the past week alone, 41 container-loads of steel scrap have been sent for recycling."