Waste no more for Behan’s Land Restoration

Irish recycling operator adds new Terex Finlay crusher and screener to its equipment fleet 

DURING its annual conference last year, the Construction Federation of Ireland noted that construction and demolition (C&D) waste was growing in the Dublin area but the capacity to deal with it has been an ongoing issue. 

According to the Federation, the quantity of C&D waste in the whole of Ireland in 2013 was approximately 2.9 million tonnes, but since then it has started to grow again and in recent years it has reached some 5.1 million tonnes per annum. With a surge in house building taking place and new major infrastructure projects such as the National Children’s Hospital, DIT Grangegorman, and Dublin Airport’s second run way to name a few, the volumes are set to increase further. 

For County Kildare-based Behan’s Land Restoration, it means a steady flow of waste coming to their site needs to be managed to the best environmental and landfill operational practices. With approximately 400,000 tonnes of waste per year to deal with, the company needs robust machines to create the various grades of stone required to most efficiently deal with backfilling the site.  

Behan’s have recently strengthened their plant and equipment fleet with the addition of a Terex Finlay J-960 jaw crusher and an 863 tracked mobile heavy-duty screener, both of which were supplied by Ormonde Machinery. 

The company decided to invest again in Terex Finlay due to its past experience of working with the brand, having previously used a 393 screening plant that proved a ‘great workhorse’ for the business. 

Among the key reasons for choosing the Terex Finlay J-960 machine, Jason Griffith, site manager for Behan’s, said: ‘We were looking for a jaw crusher that could pack a punch but which fitted with our budgets – and the J-960 has proven to be an aggressive crusher with high throughputs. We are seeing throughputs of approximately 130-140 tonnes per hour of –100 mm materials. This is then fed into the versatile 863 screener, which works well with the J-960.’

Fuel efficiency on the Terex Finlay equipment has also proven to be a real positive for the company, with unexpectedly low running costs. ‘The telematics system indicated we are doing about 17 litres of diesel per hour so from both an economic and environmental perspective this is positive for us.’

The compact size, excellent mobility and high crushing capacity even at tight settings in recycling and hard rock operations help make the J-960 mobile plant ideal for small to medium sized operators such as Behan’s. 

Working alongside the Terex Finlay J-960 unit is the 863 heavy-duty screener, as Mr Griffith explained: ‘The 863 is fitted with a 45mm top deck and 20mm bottom deck mesh. It splits the material off the crusher to produce the specified products required – 20mm to 45mm for drainage, +45–90 for road applications and fines which is treated as waste product.’

With a busy site and operation, avoiding operational downtime is a priority for Behan’s so when selecting a partner, Mr Griffith wanted a support team with the expertise and ability to respond quickly. 

‘Having technical and aftersales support in the background is a massive source of reassurance,’ he commented. ‘With the recent weather conditions, we were receiving quite a bit of sticky material so we made a call and an Ormonde service engineer came down and he changed the mesh which significantly improved production off the first belt.’  

Conal Mullan, managing director of Ormonde Machinery, added: ‘We are delighted to be working with Behans, as well as other recycling operations across the country. Each project we work on, we learn something new and this feeds into a continual process of improvement for us as a company and the services we bring to our customers.’