Small And Sustainable

Announcing its launch in March, Speke-based Recycled Aggregates North West (RAN) hasn’t been slow in making its presence known. Picking up immediate business from E.ON for haul roads it has now made it to the final 40 in the national 2008 Barclays Commercial Bank ‘Green Leaders in Business’ Awards. Karen Wilde visited the firm and chatted to directors Mark Doyle and Geoff Preston to find out more.

It may have started as a way to help reduce the landfill costs of its King Construction business, but the £1.3million investment that has gone into opening Recycled Aggregates North West (RAN) has proved to be much more.

With its processing technology capable of recycling 100% of spoil and excavation waste – reducing the need for clay and other materials to be sent to landfill – the Merseyside-based firm headed by Mark Doyle and Geoff Preston is picking up a lot of interest.

After constructing haul roads for E.ON using its hydraulically bound materials and reinstatement work on the A57 for Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council, this new recycling venture is now into the semi-finals of the Barclays Green Awards in the small business category.

RAN is using the SMR Premixd system of spoil reuse (see MQR passim). Essentially, arisings are brought to the Speke site where they are screened, graded and blended and a hydraulic binder added before being shipped out again for reinstatement.

The machines – such as the excavator mounted Dig-a-crusher and a Screen Machine – used for screening and blending are fully mobile so material can also be created on-site, cutting disposal and transport costs.

It is the first operation of its type in the Liverpool area and interest in it has grown swiftly. Doyle attributes RAN’s quick success to the growing need for quality recycled stable materials which can be manufactured on a daily basis.

He says: “It makes environmental and financial sense to cut waste disposal, especially when the material can be re-used right where it came from. Any materials that aren’t re-used on-site are used by King Construction in its on-going utility, highway and construction contracts.

“Contractors are looking for a real solution to Site Waste Management Plans and we believe we can be part of that solution. We offer 100% recycling rates and our process can create aggregate 10 times stronger than standard materials.

“This process completely closes the loop and prevents the need for virgin aggregates in so many situations that we are already looking into expanding the operation and having more recycling sites around the North West,” he says.

SMR locks in contaminants and doesn’t leach like lime, often used in this kind of work. Typical cost savings equal around £40 per cubic metre when compared with traditional stabilisation.

RAN was launched in December 2007, a stone’s throw from Liverpool’s John Lennon airport. It was financed through a bank loan: “The bank was only too happy to be financing a recycling venture knowing the payback would be achieved in the short term,” he says.

Around 40% of CD&E waste still finds its way into landfill, often misclassified as inert waste rather than non-hazardous waste. However new landfill permit regulations being phased in by the Environment Agency are closing loopholes that could see disposal costs rise significantly as material is correctly categorised.

The October 2007 threshold for inert and non-hazardous waste pre-treatment has well passed, and with Site Waste Management Action Plans now in force and landfill taxes touching £32 a tonne, dumping material is becoming a costly business.

With its aggregates produced to WRAP Quality Protocol specifications, RAN thrives in this environment by producing weekly or monthly figures for all material recycled, which show the reduced costs in comparison to conventional disposal routes.

And Doyle and Preston’s willingness to take a leap of faith with the product is now paying dividends with its offer of 100% recycling – compared with the 60% of many of its competitors – pricking up the ears of those interested in sustainable construction.

And now they are waiting to see if they are among the firms to make it into the final 10 for the Barclays awards. The final winners will be announced in September. Given the way the year has unfolded for them so far, it is hard to see them not making it.

Sample project

A few months ago RAN was hired by E.ON UK and Jacobs Engineering to construct a haul road capable of withstanding HGVs and heavy plant.

Moving machinery and trucks was virtually impossible because of conditions. The existing ground area was in brine fields with thick clay and slurry and had no adequate drainage (see picture top left).

A practical and economical on-site solution was needed to minimise the transport costs of disposing of excavated material and of bringing in new material.

All works to construct the haul road had to be ecologically sound to prevent disruption or contamination to the many ponds in the area that provide a habitat for protected species, including the great crested newt.

The solution was to excavate clay and slurry to 500mm along the existing inadequate haul road. This material was blended on-site with Premxd SMR. Once mixed, the treated material was bucket screened into a dumper before re-laying.

Material was reinstated in two layers of 250mm and compacted in stages, eradicating voids and acting as a catalyst to speed up the curing time. The road was completed in 24hours.