A NEW glass recycling factory is being launched in Wheldrake this week after local investors rescued a Lancashire-based business.

Bottle Alley Glass has been bought by Collingham Ventures, an investor in manufacturing companies which also rescued stonemasonry business JW Smith Masonry from administration in May 2009.

Managing director Alan Ashbee said they came across Bottle Alley Glass, which they recognised as a complementary offer to its portfolio of architectural products.

Mr Ashbee said they had been improving the JW Smith Masonry site, and have invested in various bits of plant, including most recently spending £120,000 on CNC machines, freeing up space to install three kilns for the recycled glass business.

They rescued the brand, relocating the business to JW Smith’s Wheldrake site, and signing an exclusive agreement in the north to make a range of glass products, such as tiling, glass inserts, lighting features and bespoke designs to sell to interior designers, architects, fabricators and members of the public.

Mr Ashbee said the bottles, which are seconds from bottling companies that would otherwise go for landfill, are crushed, put into trays and spread by hand to make sure they are flat and even before being fired in a purpose built kiln. The kiln produces a large sheet of glass which is then cut and finished.

He said: “Glass lends itself well to recycling and the processes we use makes the most of the different coloured glass we recover, otherwise destined for landfill, to create unusual and eye catching designs.”

The business has also been working with Sarah Davies, a student at York St John University, who used the process to make a recycled glass table for her final year project.

She used smashed Newcastle Brown Ale bottles, which were fused into 20mm thick slabs to make the table.

The Wheldrake factory and showroom will hold an official launch week until 19 to trade and members of the public.