The Brentford company has been brought in by engineering firm Edmund Nuttall to supply 10,000 tonnes of 100% recycled glass sand for the prestigious M3 drainage replacement contract let by the Highways Agency.
” I am convinced it is because of the kudos of using recycled material that attracted Edmund Nuttall.“
– Myles Willingale, Day Aggregates
Myles Willingale, Days Aggregates contracts manager, told letsrecycle.com: “I am convinced it is because of the kudos of using recycled material that attracted Edmund Nuttall, particularly because the M3 contract is a very high profile contract.”
The M3 project involves the replacement of 3.5km of 3m-deep filter drains on the north-bound side of the motorway between junctions 3 and 4 near Camberley. The recycled glass sand being used will have a green colour, using 100% glass bottles, the company said.
Day Aggregates is sourcing its recycled glass partly through local authority collections and from licensed premises, with the assistance of its partner, the packaging compliance scheme Valpak.
Supplies
In the five years that Day Aggregates has been recycling glass to make aggregates and asphalt, the company has reached the point at which it is now recycling about 90,000 tonnes of material each year. Mr Willingale said the company was now “struggling” to get hold of sufficient supplies of recycled glass.
Glass is supplied through companies ranging from Midland Glass and waste firm Cleanaway. Day Aggregates is actively seeking glass sorted by materials recycling facilities (MRFs), which may of mixed colour or of too poor a quality for the high demands of the container manufacturers. The company said it is willing to pay a price “in double figures” per tonne of collected glass.
Mr Willingale said: “Everyone associates the aggregates industry with crushing it and effectively landfilling it, but we actually wash the glass for use, and we are producing a higher value product. We have certain criteria, of course, but it's not like the colour-separation demands of the container industry.”
As well as making aggregates and asphalts from recycled glass, he added that Day Aggregates is now supplying golf courses with recycled glass sand and also supplying tile manufacturers.
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