The Reelstand Recycler is a simple-to-operate unit that removes the residual paper from web cores quickly and easily, allowing users to separate the core and paper into waste streams of higher value.

Bradford’s Lister Engineering originally produced the Reelstand Recycler after a bespoke request from a web offset printer. Now, having sold 20 simply through word-of-mouth, the company has decided to offer it as a standard product to a wider audience.

Managing director Jonathan Lister said: "I made the first one as a prototype for a customer who wanted something as simple as possible to do this job. Everyone who uses them likes them, they are relatively inexpensive and pay for themselves quickly."

The Reelstand Recycler can handle cores up to 1.5m wide, or 2.5m with an additional steadying support. It costs just under £3,000 including delivery, and runs off a standard 110V or 240V power supply.

Lister said it was also appealing to users from a health and safety point-of-view, as using the Recycler does away with the need to use knives when stripping cores.

Customer David Lightfoot, operations director at Precision Colour Printing in Telford, praised the benefits of the machine: "You’ve got to maximise the value of everything these days. The best case with waste like this is that somebody takes it away and they pay you for it.

"We can now strip the white paper waste and segregate it, and get the best rates for that, and get £50 a tonne for the cores. The payback was within six months."

A video of the Reelstand Recycler in use, together with an interactive calculator can be found on the Lister Engineering website.

Lister added that while the device had found favour initially with web offset printers, he was also exploring the potential for it in other areas of the industry, such as web-fed digital printers and label printers.