WBB Minerals Ltd, National Grid Transco plc and Coleman & Co Ltd have benefited from grants totalling 794,000, which WRAP said will deliver more than one million tonnes of new aggregate recycling by 2010.
The grants are funded through the Aggregates Levy, a tax paid on the use of virgin materials in aggregates. So far, 14 contracts have been signed with companies awarded WRAP grants as part of the first round of its aggregates programme, originally launched in 2002.
Steve Waite, WRAP’s aggregates capital project manager, said: “These three grants complete the first round of WRAP England aggregate capital grants competitions which have proved extremely successful and will, over the fourteen contracts, generate 3.2 million tonnes of aggregates recycling over the next six years.”
Transco
Based at its former gas holdings site in Sheepscar, Leeds, National Grid Transco has already started processing materials arising from its trench excavations. A grant of nearly 100,000 has been invested in machinery for crushing, screening and mixing 37,000 tonnes of aggregate each year. This is to be recycled into a foam concrete substitute and re-used to line trenches by Transco and its contractors.
WBB Minerals
A 303,000 grant has gone to a new plant being built by WBB Minerals in Newton Abbot, Devon, which will process ball clay waste into fine aggregate. Sand excavated in clay quarrying activities will no longer be used to back-fill sites once the plant becomes operational in 2005. Instead, it will be turned into about 305,000 tonnes of recycled aggregates by 2010.
Coleman & Co
WRAP has awarded about 391,000 to Coleman & Co to redevelop former foundry buildings on a six acre site in Birmingham. The company is currently carrying out demolition, clean up and construction work for new storage bays at the site, as well as a refurbishment of the foundry.
Screening and washing plant has been ordered and Coleman hopes to begin processing aggregates from their excavation and demolition works later in the year, with 580,000 tonnes of material expected to be recycled by 2010.
WRAP said the second round of its grants competition for aggregates recycling should begin soon. Mr Waite said: “We are in contract negotiations for our next round of capital grant competitions for England and Scotland and look forward to announcing project details in the near future.”
Subscribe for free