CWM Environmental invests in TOMRA technology to drive £15 million redevelopment of Carmarthenshire RRF

We’ve invested in seven of TOMRA’s advanced AUTOSORT™ units as part of our redeveloped £15 million Nantycaws Resource Recovery Facility (RRF), one of Wales’s most advanced circular economy infrastructure developments. The facility entered full operation in July 2026 following successful completion of its commissioning programme, marking a major shift to fully automated sorting at the Carmarthenshire site following the 2021 fire, caused by a lithium-ion battery, that destroyed the original plant.

The state-of-the-art plant can process up to 80,000 tonnes of material a year, managing both household co-mingled waste and commercial segregated recyclable streams. Operating a standard single-shift, 40-hour week, it handles a diverse infeed including co-mingled dry mixed recyclables (DMR) and kerbside collections from trade and domestic sources. It’s also been engineered to handle a kerbside sort stream for Carmarthenshire County Council, scheduled for mid-late autumn 2026, so we’re ready for forthcoming waste reforms.

The investment supports Welsh Government’s ambition for Wales to become a zero-waste nation by 2050.

Advanced sorting configuration

Moving from manual picking to high precision automated sorting has let us significantly increase both throughput and material value. Where a manual line would previously have needed around ten people to achieve this throughput, our seven AUTOSORT™ units are distributed across specialised 2D and 3D lines to maximise recovery. AUTOSORT™ combines AI, multi-sensor technology and advanced image processing to sort a wide range of materials.

On the 2D line, two AUTOSORT™ units work in sequence: the first removes non-fibre materials for transfer to the 3D line, the second extracts brown OCC. The 3D line has four units focused on polymer separation, covering PET natural, HDPE natural, HDPE jazz and PP. A final step recovers other plastics, such as PET jazz, for reuse.

A seventh unit acts as a scavenger, monitoring the reject line to recover any misplaced target material and return it to the start of the process.

This multi-stage process achieves recovery purity levels above 95%.

Building capacity for the future

Paul Wakelin, Head of Operations at CWM Environmental, said:

“This redevelopment is a milestone for CWM Environmental. After the challenges of the 2021 fire and the years of manual sorting that followed, this £15 million investment lets us operate at the very forefront of the industry. TOMRA’s technology outperformed all others in our evaluation trials, and the results we’re seeing in purity, throughput and efficiency are exceptional. We’re now able to consistently meet the rigorous purity standards required by domestic and international reprocessors to turn waste back into high-value products.
“The Nantycaws RRF is a tangible investment in the future of the circular economy in Wales. By investing in this modern site, we’re building the capacity to process materials more efficiently, boost resource recovery capabilities, support green skills development and deliver long-term economic and environmental value for Welsh communities.”

Paul Wakelin – Head of Operations – CWM Environmental

Terry Keyworth, Regional Director UK and Ireland at TOMRA Recycling, added: “It’s great to see the RRF return to full operational capacity. CWM Environmental has a clear vision for regional circularity in Wales, and our partnership has focused on building a process that’s stable, flexible and capable of meeting the highest market specifications, both today and as infeed streams change.”

The project was commissioned by principal contractor Colin White Services (CWS), who contracted McDonald International Limited to design and build the plant.

About TOMRA Recycling: TOMRA Recycling is a global leader in sensor-based sorting solutions for the recycling and waste management industry, with over 11,900 sorting systems installed in more than 100 countries.

Find out more on their website

Watch two years of rebuilding at Nantycaws, from the 2021 fire that destroyed the original plant to the RRF’s full operation in July 2026.