The Virtual Quarry

Reading-based Alan Hadley Waste and Recycling has offically opened its new aggregate washing plant, about two years in the planning. The business idea is to excavate material from its four inert sites – which the company sees as ‘virtual quarries’ – and produce a WRAP protocol guided aggregate end product for the local market. MQR chatted to former Hanson national recycling manager and Hadley MD Lee Phelan about the plans, the benefits of being at the helm of a smaller operator and how the waste industry is starting to grow up.

As the global quarrying industry continues to consolidate leaving the UK-based quarries looking for ever more creative ways to “right-size” operations, former big-five employees and directors can be found popping up in waste and recycling operations.

One such person is Alan Hadley Recycling and Waste MD Lee Phelan. And the former Hanson national recycling manager is certainly making his mark on the company by steering through a £1.5million investment in an aggregate washing plant. When he joined Hadley around two and a half years ago, the Claude Fenton owned company was looking at ways to expand its business around its native Reading, which, as Phelan states, was starting to become “swamped” with the organisation’s products.

There were two choices for moving forward. “We either had to think of setting up in a new geographical area,” Phelan told MQR, “or we needed a new product. Investment in an aggregate washing site seemed to offer the best solution.”
And after paying visits to KSD in Birmingham, Eco-Aggregates in Hertfordshire and Raymond Brown near Southampton, Phelan realized the 75-year-old company was losing potential business from its inert waste operations.
Hadley has four inert sites around the Reading area – along with a skip business and waste transfer stations – with rapidly disappearing void space. And Reading is an area blessed geologically with very high levels of sand and gravel.
Extracting and washing the aggregate material from the inert seemed the sensible solution, says Phelan. “Because of the geology we figured about 70% of the aggregate in the inert was virgin from excavations. We simply needed to screen and wash it.

“We have only just started but this is the level of aggregate we are sourcing. Only 30% of the excavated material goes back into the ground. We believe we can get 280,000tonnes of aggregate out a year. We are currently processing out around 700tonnes a day.”

The biggest yield is sand at about 28%. This becomes either a 2mm building sand or a 4mm sharp sand. Other products offered include 10, 20 and 40mm single sized gravel and 0-20mm concrete ballast or sub-base made from reject material from the process.

All is processed using the WRAP Quality Protocol and sells for a price equal to virgin material. Phelan says the firm is far enough away from the influence of the Mendips’ quarry supply and close enough to the Thames area to make it work.
However, he feels there is strength in the argument that recycled should fetch a higher price than virgin given the processing required to create it, especially as demand for recycled increases as it is more commonly specified for sustainable construction.

“There is a lot that goes into creating a quality recycled aggregate. There is the testing, the keeping to the Protocol and the investment in plant. The process is much harder for recycled than with virgin material,” he says.

While some recycling firms in the UK that are part of a group offering a wider range of construction related services are using investment in new recycling operations to help reduce materials costs or widen product offerings for other areas of the group such as contracting, this is not a major route to market for Hadley.

The firm will only supply about 30,000tonnes a year in-house to other Claude Fenton operations, explains Phelan. “The Fenton construction arm is more project management so the demand is not as great.”

But a ready-market is not something Phelan is worried about. “We know it is there,” he says, “because as a small local business we know the people and they know us. It is about who you know and who you can trust to deliver and people know they can trust us.”

It is a far cry from his days at Hanson. And a question over the cultural differences between working for a large quarrying firm and a smaller independent raises a smile. “Oh yes,” he laughs, “there are differences. At a corporate level in aggregates the focus is on cost reduction and efficiency. There was also a lot of hierarchy in the way we operated.

“Here the focus is different. We are flexible and the communication through the organization is much quicker. We can capitalize on the shift towards sustainable construction quicker and this is a huge advantage,” he says.

And when it chooses to act, it certainly goes all the way. As well as the washing plant it has also invested in its own in-house laboratory to keep up with the testing needed to follow the Quality Protocol.

It is in the process of getting the lab UKAS accredited to that it can carry out testing for other organizations. Not only does this offer in-house savings but also gives them a potential revenue stream as waste regulation continues to tighten.
And it doesn’t stop here. Already 80% of the 150,000tonnes of commercial and industrial waste processed in the company’s waste transfer centres is recycled. But Phelan is now in negotiation with a landowner to secure 13acres for an Eco Centre.

Phelan told MQR: “The idea is to offer clients optical sorting of material such as plastics. We might even apply for plasma conversion at the site to create power but we haven’t fully decided yet.”

He feels that in the waste industry there is everything to play for. And echoing the words of Powerday MD Mike Crossan in the last issue of MQR, Phelan believes it is an industry that is having to grow up very quickly.

“I can’t think of any industry that is facing the same pace of change as waste management, he says. “The aggregates and landfill taxes, general environmental legislation and the increasing emphasis on carbon reduction are all playing a part.

“It is a hell of a change and one we are all working our way through as best we can. And we have a lot of growing up to do.

“Look at the Continent, they have done it there. And we are nowhere near as sophisticated as some of the Nordic countries.”

And for those wishing to follow Hadley’s lead and get into the higher value aggregates market? Well, Phelan has some advice: “When you are planning your site remember that it is all about silt control. We don’t have a silt problem here but if you have, then your costs and headaches will increase.”