Grundon Waste Management has submitted plans to build a 1 million facility at its Ewelme landfill site in Oxfordshire to recycle road sweepings into aggregates and compost-like output (CLO).
Situated near Wallingford, the plant would process 25,000 tonnes per year of road sweepings material, extracting secondary aggregates for use in construction, according to Grundon.
The facility would separate out ferrous metals and organic waste material from the road sweepings to produce sand and grit aggregates of various sizes. It would also produce a small amount of clay for the on-site landfill and compost-like output (CLO) to be used onsite for land restoration.
The planning application, lodged last month, comes as Oxfordshire county council this week (August 11) started the procurement process for a contract to treat street sweepings.
An Oxfordshire county council spokesman said: This will be an extremely thorough process to ensure the best value for money. Tenders are due to be submitted by 3rd October and the council expects to make a contract award decision at the end of October.
Oxfordshires street sweepings are currently processed at Veolias Ling Hill site near Rugby under a short term agreement as there are currently no road sweepings recycling facilities in the county.
This arrangement is thought to be costing the council around 100,000 a year and it is therefore now seeking a more local facility to process the material.
Compost
Until 2013, Oxfordshire street sweepings were composted with green waste and used on farmland, which contributed to recycling rates in the region.
‘We are looking to attract waste to the plant and therefore we are speaking to a number of commercial customers and local authorities that could benefit from using this innovative recycling and recovery technology.’
Grundon spokesperson
However, in May 2013, new Environment Agency regulations brought an end to this practice due to perceived risk of the metal content from road sweepings ending up in the compost (see letsrecycle.com story).
Grundons application for a road sweepings facility in the region would appear to have been lodged partly in response to the county councils desire for a more local facility to process its road sweepings material, which was first made public in November 2013 (see letsrecycle.com story).
According to Grundons planning application, the lack of a road sweepings facility in the county means there is therefore a clear and demonstrable need for this type of facility which would assist the county in becoming self-sufficient in dealing with its own waste whilst saving taxpayers money.
A spokesperson for Grundon said: Grundon has identified an opportunity to process street sweepings for a number of existing and potential customers, providing them with both a cost efficient and environmentally beneficial solution. Our new facility is very versatile and will not only process street sweepings, but also MRF fines and gully waste.
We are looking to attract waste to the plant and therefore we are speaking to a number of commercial customers and local authorities that could benefit from using this innovative recycling and recovery technology.
Grundon facility
Grundon plans to develop the facility on part of its Ewelme landfill site which has historically been used for sand and gravel processing. The facility will create jobs for two new site operatives.
According to the firm, around 4,500 tonnes per year of road sweepings generated in the south Oxfordshire area are already brought to the location before being sent to Veolias facility in Rugby.
The proposed new facility would therefore enable these road sweepings to be processed at Ewelme together with fine materials from Grundons on-site materials recovery facility (MRF).
In its planning application the firm stated: The plant will also enable additional road sweepings from the wider Oxfordshire area to be brought to the site, instead of being taken a considerable distance out of the county for processing.
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