Five aggregates firms awarded 1m to boost recycling

The funding, from WRAP's Aggregates Capital Competition, aims to increase the production and use of recycled and secondary aggregates in England.

Colchester-based Eastern Waste Disposal, Walton-on-Thames firm General Recycling and Aggregate Recycling UK in Cornwall, as well as West Midlands companies Premier Waste UK and Jack Moody Ltd, have all won grants.

”These projects are contributing to WRAP’s Business Plan target of three million tonnes of additional processing capacity by 2006. “
– Steve Waite, WRAP
WRAP said its latest grants will deliver almost 420,000 tonnes of new reprocessing capacity each year by 2010.

Steve Waite, WRAP’s aggregates capital project manager, said: “This is the first wave of English grant funding from the competition launched in April 2004. These projects are contributing to WRAP’s Business Plan target of three million tonnes of additional processing capacity by 2006.”

Awards
Four of the awards are for the production of recycled aggregates from construction, demolition and excavation waste (CD&EW;). Premier Waste UK of Birmingham will use 56,000 for a new double deck screen to increase production capacity by nearly 40,000 tonnes. New crushing and screening equipment will be purchased by Jack Moody Ltd and General Recycling Ltd through grants of 184,000 and 109,000 respectively.

And, Eastern Waste Disposal Ltd will be investing 226,000 in new mobile and static equipment for recycling, as well as a new facility for removing contamination from skip waste at the Brightlingsea site.

The fifth grant of 499,000 for Aggregate Industries UK Ltd will put in place production capacity of 260,000 tonnes per annum of secondary aggregates from china clay waste stockpiled at the company’s Littlejohn’s Pit in Cornwall.

WRAP's aggregates programme in England has been funded since 2002 by Defra through the Aggregates Levy, which was set up by the government to reduce impact on the environment from the extraction of aggregates such as crushed rock, sand and gravel used in construction.