A new trade in Southampton docks is making a major contribution in cutting down on the number of heavy trucks using the UK's road network and is also boosting the country's recycling industry.

The first shipment of ground bottle-glass material, totalling 1,200 tonnes, has left Midland Glass Processing's new plant in Southampton docks, owned and operated by Associated British Ports' (ABP), on board m.v. Sea Kestrel, bound for Goole on the Humber Estuary.

The facility, the first of its type to be built in a UK port, processes used-bottle glass collected from Hampshire and the surrounding areas into refined material, which is then shipped around the UK coast for use in the bottle-making industry.

It is expected at least 24,000 tonnes of glass a year will be handled by the complex, resulting in almost 2,000 heavy goods-vehicle movements being taken off the roads every year, representing the equivalent of more than 640,000 lorry miles.

Andrew Kent, ABP's port director in Southampton, said: "This project is an excellent example of how UK ports can provide significant benefits for domestic distribution as well as for trade, while encouraging environmentally-friendly methods of transportation.''

Construction of the new facility for Midland Glass Processing was part-funded by a £800,000 Freight Facilities Grant awarded by the UK government to ABP Southampton and the port's independent, specialist bulk stevedores, Solent Stevedores.

Stuart Cullen, managing director of Solent Stevedores, said:

"We are pleased for our customer, Midland Glass, and for the Port of Southampton, and we delighted to be part such a good environmental project."