Smiths and Raymond Brown in IBA joint venture
Companies working together to market and distribute Oxfordshire incinerator bottom ash aggregate
SMITHS & Sons (Bletchington) Ltd and Raymond Brown Aggregates have announced a joint venture for the marketing and distribution of incinerator bottom ash (IBA) aggregate from the new Energy Recovery Facility in Ardley, Oxfordshire.
Raymond Brown Aggregates, one of the country’s leading IBA processing companies, were chosen by Viridor earlier this year to build and operate their latest processing facility in Smith’s old quarry in Oxfordshire.
The brand new custom-built IBA processing plant has been constructed over the past three months, with testing and commissioning successfully completed last week.
Raw ash is brought to Raymond Brown’s processing area where it is ‘aged’, processed to remove ferrous and non-ferrous metals, and then graded to meet BS EN and Highways Agency Specifications.
Mark Isaac, Raymond Brown Aggregates’ managing director, commented: ‘We have processed and sold in excess of 600,000 tonnes of ash within the last seven years and we are excited to be working with Smiths to introduce this sustainable and cost-effective alternative for road construction and similar activities within the Oxfordshire market.’
Andrew Smith, joint managing director at Smiths, added: ‘We are very pleased to have formed this joint venture with Raymond Brown. We have a lot in common with them being a similar-sized, privately owned company with strong family values. Not only that, but to sell this sustainable recycled aggregate completes the circle of the recycling process at the Energy Recovery Facility, which has to be good for all of us.’
IBA aggregate is a sustainable and cost-effective alternative to Type 1, which is otherwise imported into Oxfordshire from hard rock quarries in the Midlands and West Country. This secondary aggregate consists of fused clinker, ceramics, glass, stone and concrete, and has been widely used in construction for nearly 20 years, with more than 7 million tonnes used to date within the UK.
Smiths are now taking orders for IBA aggregate sales with Raymond Brown providing technical support as part of the partnership.
