Green groups cast eyes over aggregates production
TWO leading environmental groups have visited Hanson Aggregates’ Ystrad Meurig Quarry in North Wales to take a closer look at aggregates production with a view to developing ways of further reducing waste.
"Representatives from the Centre of alternative Technology (CAT), accompanied by David Eccles from the Welsh Assembly, were given a full tour of the quarry and shown how the volume of waste produced has been cut dramatically by installing an extra screening system to separate scalpings into fine and coarse particles. The fine material is used for restoration while the coarse stone is crushed into 6mm, 10mm and 14mm chippings for road surfacing."
"‘This saves us around 70,000 tonnes of primary rock reserves every year, plus explosives costs, wear and tear on the machinery and fuel costs,’ said quarry manager Tony Walker."
The CAT visitors took samples of the various waste materials to look into the possibility of producing a thermal building block.
"The second visit was from Envar, a new company which is part of the environmental consulting group ADAS and is looking at new uses for waste materials. They took samples of the fine scalping material and silt from the washing process for analysis to see if they can be blended with an organic material to create a growing medium."
