@6f101427 plastic kegs - clear PET and black polypropylene. Namely "KeyKegs" and "PolyKegs" — for recycling into more kegs. The plastic kegs always irked me and I was an early proponent of setting up a recycling scheme for them, but plastic recycling is a real struggle in the UK. Thankfully there was enough pressure for the manufacturers of KeyKegs to implement a "circular" recycling scheme* which we were an early participant in — have saved many tonnes from landfill/incineration. 

 @6f101427

* They bought into this so thoroughly they renamed the company "OneCircle". 

IMO it's not ideal, but nothing in drinks (or any) logistics is really. Plastic is light, better payloads for less fuel, steel is heavy and  energy & chemical intensive to clean (I am told worse per unit than the footprint of plastics recycling) — but also has a huge reuse lifespan. It's murky territory to find good stats on such things, almost all studies are partisan. 

 @6f101427 new operators of the business are continuing the recycling service, the baler is relocating to the big Grimsby warehouse from my little old fenlands warehouse which has been shut down. 

 @88f809c5 didn't see replies earlier. ah right, had to search a bit. it compresses and then it bales 

 @6f101427 yeah, I guess it's probably waste industry terminology... the machine compresses stuff (this could do cardboard, pallet wrap, anything compressible really) then you can tie straps around it to make said "bale". Thus "baler". Most industrial sites and large retail sites (i.e
 supermarkets) have one (or more), mainly for cardboard.

Basically it improves logistics efficiency by making materials more space efficient. Density is efficiency.