The plant will turn 140,000 tonnes of material into recycled aggregates for use in highway construction and other building uses every year once it is running at full capacity by late 2005.
Built and operated by TK Lynskey Excavations Ltd, the new facility at Wath-upon-Dearne has been provided with segregation and processing machinery by Dutch manufacturer Redox.
”This new aggregate recycling centre will bring wider environmental benefits, decreasing the amount of fresh quarrying needed.“
– Treasury minister John Healey
It will recycle material from TK Lynskey's own demolition business as well as from other waste producers in the area such as utility companies, construction firms and local authorities. Recycled aggregates produced by the plant will meet the Highways Agency's specifications for use in UK roads.
Commenting on the new facility, Mr Healey, MP for Wentworth in Rotherham, said: “As treasury minister responsible for environmental policy, I welcome this new state-of-the-art aggregate recycling centre, which will bring up to 30 jobs to the local area and provide a boost to the local economy. It will also bring wider environmental benefits, decreasing the amount of fresh quarrying needed.”
Sophisticated
Martin Lynskey, TKL's managing director, said: “The Redox segregating and sorting techniques are highly sophisticated and will allow a greater degree of clean material to be recovered and used in the manufacture of quality aggregates.”
”Construction waste amounts to almost 100 million tonnes per year in the UK and represents a valuable sustainable resource.“
– WRAP CEO Jennie Price
Some of the funding for the plant – 570,000 – came from WRAP, the Waste and Resources Action Programme. In 2002, government-supported agency received 15.5 million from the Aggregates Levy, a levy on the extraction of new aggregates such as sand, stone and gravel, with the aim of increasing demand for recycled aggregates.
WRAP has targets to increase the production of recycled aggregates by 2 million tonnes a year before the end of 2004.
Speaking at the opening of the Rotherham plant, WRAP's chief executive Jennie Price said: “Construction, demolition and excavation waste amounts to almost 100 million tonnes per year in the UK and represents a valuable sustainable resource. One of WRAP's key objectives is to develop the UK's recycling infrastructure and we are delighted to support TKL's new facility.”
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