An overview of our services

ACE provides a range of recycling services for business and the wider community. It is one of our main objectives to provide a convenient, cost effective and integrated multi-material recycling service to meet the needs of our customers. We also aim to protect the environment by diverting as much material from landfill as possible supporting local councils to meet their recycling targets.

We are aware of the rising costs to business of waste management and are able to offer advice on how to reduce these costs.

Similarly we provide support for community recycling, running kerbside collections for over 35 000 households in North Lanarkshire and Clackmannanshire. Collecting cans, paper, cardboard, plastics, glass and textiles and either reprocessing these ourselves or sending them on to third parties for recycling.

We also aim to support community groups in the areas where we operate. We provide both a 'Cash for Cans' scheme and our recently introduced 'Cash for Textiles' scheme where we buy cans and textiles ( clothes, hats, belts, shoes etc) from groups. If you require more information on these schemes please refer back to the home page and click on the link or use the contact page and we will get in touch as soon as possible.

We also service community recycling centres in Stirling, Clackmannanshire and Falkirk which provide uplift services for those who for one reason or another do not have doorstep uplifts or where certain materials are not yet collected through doorstep uplift.

For more details of individual projects please refer back to the front page of the website.

Glass recycling for business

Its easy, its convenient and its cost effective!

ACE have a fleet of glass vehicles picking up colour separated glass from across Clackmannanshire, Stirling, Falkirk, North Lanarkshire and West Lothian.

We provide suitable containers, either 240l wheelie bins or 1100l wheelie bins, one for each of white, brown and green glass. All we ask is that you put bottles in the appropriate container and we will do all the rest.

Our prices are extremely competitive and it is much cheaper to recycle than it is to send waste to landfill. For a quote please use either the contact button or fill in the online form and we will get in touch as soon as we can. If necessary we can arrange a visit to discuss your needs and advise on how to reduce your waste charges.

For further information on our other service please return to the main menu. It is possible that we can provide a service for all your recycling needs..

Recycling cardboard

Why Recycle Cardboard?

Cardboard is bulky and can fill up your waste skips at an alarming rate. There are currently large quantities of cardboard packaging in waste streams that can be recycled at a far lower cost to companies than commercial landfill costs.

Many of our customers have found that they can make significant financial and environmental savings by removing cardboard from their waste stream by recycling.

ACE Commercial offers you

• A high capacity collection vehicle that enables quick loading
• Regular collections or on demand to suit your business
• Printed or plain cardboard taken
• Large or small amounts can be accommodated
• Storage containers can be supplied

What we ask of you

• We ask that cardboard is flattened and stored in bins or tied up in bundles
• The cardboard must be free of any contamination; this includes plastics, polystyrene or rubbish
• Cardboard must be easily accessible. It doesn't matter if it temporarily gets wet
• Our first collection is 8.30am, however we try to be flexible so please contact us to discuss any specific requirements

Cans

ACE is the only processing centre for Novelis ( formerly British Alcan) in Scotland. Every can that goes through our yard is recycled in the UK and supports UK jobs.

Can recycling is easy and convenient and like all our other services is cost effective. We tailor a service to your needs, dependent very much on volume and frequency of pickups.

We provide the bags and containers to collect the cans and pickups will be arranged at a time and on a day that is as convenient as possible. For larger volumes we can provide a variety of sizes of wheelie bins and the service will be priced dependent on the volume and number of pickups provided per weeks.

For a competitive quote please use either the contact button or fill in the online form and we will get in touch as soon as we can. If necessary we can arrange a visit to discuss your needs and advise on how to reduce your waste charges.

Paper

We can pickup confidential waste for shredding, waste paper, leaflets, newspapers and brochures. We provide the bags and price is dependent on quantity. Pickups can be arranged at a time and on a day which is most convenient.

For a competitive quote please use either the contact button or fill in the online form and we will get in touch as soon as we can. If necessary we can arrange a visit to discuss your needs and advise on how to reduce your waste charges.

Textile

We are currently expanding our recycling services to offer the uplift of commercial textiles. To discuss your business needs please use the online contact form or alternatively please phone us on 01259 215090.

Blue box / kerbside

The Blue Box system in Clackmannanshire started in 2001 and has grown to the point where ACE pick up recyclates in the boxes from over 25000 homes in the district. Bearing in mind that many houses have more than one blue box this means that we now divert over 300 tonnes of rubbish every month away from landfill supporting Clackmannanshire Council to its place at the top of the recycling national league tables and protecting the environment for future generations.

Bottle banks

What goes in the bottle banks?

The bottle banks take all sorts of glass bottles and jars. You will find when you get to the bottle bank sites that there are different banks for white, brown and green glass. We ask that the glass is colour seperated to assist with the recycling process.

What happens to the glass?

The glass collected from sites across Clackmannanshire and Falkirk is taken to the OI factory in Alloa where it is melted down and reprocessed into new glass bottles and jars. Making sure that we deliver high quality glass from the bottle banks to the OI factory ensures that we are not only protecting the environment but supporting the local economy in Forth Valley.

Textile banks

• At present clothes banks are only operating at about 25% capacity [source: www.e4s.org.uk]. The clothes banks take all clothes, hats, shoes and belts. The clothes collected from the banks are recycled and the best quality textiles are sent to third world countries where they support local entrepreneurship. Lower quality goods are turned into rags for industry or used as stuffing for items like matresses.

Can banks

• If all the aluminium drinks cans sold in the UK were recycled, there would be 14 million fewer full dustbins per year [source: www.alupro.org.uk ]
• If all of the aluminium cans recycled in the UK in 1998 were laid end to end, they would stretch from Land's End to John O'Groats more than 160 times [source:www.alupro.org.uk]
• In the UK, 75% of all drinks cans are made of aluminium. [source: Waste Watch]
• It's better news in industry - larger aluminium products, used in buildings and vehicles for example, have a 95% recycling rate. That's simply because they're more valuable. [source: Aluminium Federation Ltd Fact Sheet 11 - Aluminium Recycling]
• Amazingly, recycling it requires only 5% of the energy it takes to make new aluminium - and produces only 5% of the CO2 emission. [source:www.alupro.org.uk]

Paper banks

• On average, each person in the UK uses over 200 kg of paper per year. 66 % of this is collected for recycling [source: Confederation of Paper Industries]
• We use 12.5 million tonnes of paper and cardboard every year in the UK [source: Confederation of Paper Industries]
• Over Christmas as much as 83 km2 of wrapping paper will end up in UK rubbish bins, enough to cover an area larger than Guernsey [source: Waste Watch]
• About one fifth of the contents of household dustbins consist of paper and card, of which nearly half is newspapers and magazines. This is equivalent to over 4kg of waste paper and card per household in the UK each week [Source: Waste Watch]
• Recycled paper made up 80.6% of the raw materials for UK newspapers by the end of 2006 [Source: NNIEAG]

Glass banks

• The largest glass furnaces produce more than 400 tonnes - that's more than one million bottles and jars - each day! [source: www.ollierecycles.com]
• Glass can be recycled again and again without losing its clarity or purity [source: www.britglass.co.uk ]
• Milk bottles are reused an average of 13 times before recycling [source: Surrey County Council]
• The UK has more than 50,000 bottle banks [source: www.britglass.co.uk ]
• One bottle bank can hold up to 3,000 bottles before it needs to be emptied. [source: www.britglass.co.uk ]
• We use around 2.4 million tonnes of container glass in the UK every year.  [source: www.defra.gov.uk]
• In 2005 we recycled approximately 1.2 million tonnes of used glass (known as 'cullet'). [source: www.britglass.co.uk]
• Making glass bottles and jars from recycled ones saves energy. The energy saving from recycling one bottle will:

1. Power a 100 watt light bulb for almost an hour
2. Power a computer for 20 minutes
3. Power a colour TV for 15 minutes
4. Power a washing machine for 10 minutes [source: www.britglass.co.uk ]

• Probably the most important thing about recycling glass is the energy saving - when using recycled glass to make new containers, 315Kg of CO2 is saved for every tonne of recycled glass used. [source: "Glass Recycling - Life Cycle Carbon Dioxide Emissions. A Life Cycle Analysis Report". Prepared for British Glass by Enviros Consulting Ltd November 2003.]

Plastic

• Recycling just one plastic bottle saves enough energy to power a 60W light bulb for six hours [Source: Recoup]
• It takes just 25 two litre pop bottles to make one adult size fleece jacket [Source: WRAP]
• 13 billion plastic carrier bags are used in the UK each year. [source: Defra]

Furniture recycling project

What happens to it

ACE collect good quality second hand furniture from homes in Stirling District and Clackmannanshire and use the items picked up to provide furniture packs to individuals in the community being re-housed from homelessness.

What we take

We need bedroom furniture, lounge and dining room furniture. Any soft furnishings such as suites and mattresses must be compliant with current fire regulations. If in doubt look for a label on the cushions or mattresses that will tell you if it meets the regulations. Generally anything less than ten years old will comply but we are always able to give advise if you need it.

We don't take electrical goods at the moment or any of the smaller household goods such as crockery and dishes.

Timetable

The time table for furniture collections is as follows:

We are not able to give specific times for collection but we can let you know if it will be morning or afternoon.

History of the project

In the spring of 1984 a group of volunteers in Clackmannanshire successfully raised funds to furnish a halfway house, which provided training and support to assist long stay patients in a nearby psychiatric hospital to regain their rightful place in society. From these humble beginnings arose what is now arguably the most successful community recycling business in Scotland.

Due to the success of their fund raising venture the volunteers recognised the need for an ongoing business which would create local jobs and help alleviate poverty in a high unemployment area.

With the help of a £1000 Small Business Grant and one employee Alloa Community Enterprises Ltd (ACE) was launched in 1984. The first venture of the organisation was to establish a furniture reuse project. This project has grown and changed over the years and now we provide new and second hand furniture packs to over 250 homes every year in partnership with Clackmannanshire Council Temporary Tenancy Team.