Cheshire West and Chester Council’s 10,000 tonnes per annum of kerbside collected glass will be sent to Sheffield as part of a closed loop recycling waste management solution.

The news has been revealed after Viridor and Kier Environmental Services joined forces in a 12-month contract.

Viridor resource management managing director Keith Trower said the company was committed to ensuring that no circular economy opportunities were missed.

This is particularly important with glass with its endless recycling potential.

Mr Trower said: “The material received at Viridor’s £12m Sheffield Glass Recycling Facility is excellent quality and a testament to the efforts of the residents of Cheshire West and Chester and Kier’s professional collection strategy.

“The glass will be sent to Sheffield Glass for reprocessing into remelt quality cullet which is supplied to UK remelters, supporting the circular economy message which is so important to Viridor and its partners.

“Some of the glass will be supplied to Encirc in Elton (only five miles away from one of the collection depots in Ellesmere Port) which is excellent for optimising road freight and reducing our carbon footprint.”

Viridor’s recycling and integrated assets managing director Paul Brown said the company was pleased to be developing a working relationship with the collection specialist.

He said Sheffield Glass achieved end of waste quality accreditation status for all glass cullet and glass aggregate products.

It has the capacity to recycle 160,000 tonnes of glass bottles and jars a year and has been recycling these into glass cullet quality since 2010, investing in new technology as part of a continuing focus on quality improvements.

Craig Cutajar, head of materials trading at Kier Environmental Services, said: “We are delighted to be working with Viridor to ensure that the high-quality recovered glass we produce through the great work carried out by Cheshire West and Chester’s residents and our operational team, is used for remelt purposes.”