Operation Clean Sweep in Action at Logoplaste

Microplastics have been receiving a lot of media and government focus recently and plastic pellets from industry have been in the spot light as part of this. Therefore, encouraging signs up to Operation Clean Sweep® and ensuring companies are putting into the place the best practice ideas from the Operation Clean Sweep® manual is essential.

On Wednesday 21st June members visited Logoplaste’s Coleford Plant to share knowledge on how to implement Operation Clean Sweep®. All the companies who attended have already started to work on Operation Clean Sweep® and this visit gave them an opportunity to learn ideas and be inspired by the work Logoplaste have already done.  

Logoplaste’s Coleford plant produce plastic bottles for Lucozade and Ribena and are aiming to produce 1 billion bottles a year. Logoplaste globally signed up to Operation Clean Sweep® and each site is now putting the programme into practice.

Neil Parsons, Logoplaste’s QHS Manager, showed the group how through a site audit each part of their process was explored and rated as red, amber or green in terms of how likely pellets were to be spilled. They then worked with their staff to identify cost effective solutions to reduce the risk of pellets being spilled in the red areas identified. Neil Parsons estimated that they spent about £3000 putting all the solutions in place which, due to their process, were focussed on containment of pellets.

The group had a tour of Logoplaste’s facility to see solutions for themselves many of which were installed by their staff. These solutions include:

•    Catch trays for when vehicles are unloading into silos
•    Ensuring drivers get out of their cabs so they can quickly react if pipes become disconnected (monitored via CCTV)
•    Catch trays under silo ports and an enclosed area around the ports
•    High risk drains being covered with rubber sheeting
•    Drains opposite silo have mesh covers
•    Ban on driver airlines which were blowing pellets towards drains
•    Vaccum cleaners for drivers to clean up spills
•    Rubber sheeting placed around the bottom of silo to prevent pellets escaping out of the bottom
•    Engaging staff using quizzes on Operation Clean Sweep®

Members who attended found the visit very useful and were discussing how to adapt these ideas to their own facilities.

All BPF members are encouraged to sign up to Operation Clean Sweep® and to put into practice systems to ensure plastic pellets are contained within their site. Any questions please contact Helen Jordan ([email protected]).