Powerscreen Equipment Contributes to "Urban Quarry" Success

When Coleman & Company were planning a revolutionary secondary aggregates reclamation concept as part of their major investment programme and planned expansion, they turned to Powerscreen Distributors, Blue Machinery Plc, for the design, supply and installation of an impressive screening and washing plant as the lynch-pin of the recycling process. Some six months after the plant’s inauguration, the company reports that they are already achieving around 9,000 tonnes production per month and, to cap the success of this arguably unique set-up, Coleman and Company has just been awarded "Demolition Contractor of the Year" at the recent prestigious Contract Journal Awards. Based in Great Barr, Birmingham, the new recycling plant has been nicknamed "The Urban Quarry". With potential for a yearly production of 120,000 tonnes of secondary aggregates, it is only a "quarry" in the sense of what it produces. It is a startling example of what can be achieved in the name of preserving the country’s natural resources, reducing materials volumes sent to landfill and making the best possible use of debris and waste as a raw material.

Coleman and Company is a multi-disciplined organisation specialising in demolition, land reclamation, bulk excavation and recycling, Coleman is in the vanguard of reclamation of saleable products extracted from the considerable volume of C & D waste generated by their various contracts. Over 300,000 tonnes of recycled aggregates are already produced by Coleman every year and, with support from Government-backed WRAP (the Wastes and Resources Action Programme), the new state-of-the-art recycling plant at Great Barr is now well and truly on stream, producing a range of quality secondary aggregates that compare favourably with "virgin" aggregates extracted from conventional pits and quarries.

The quality of recycled aggregates is of prime importance to the Coleman organisation. Sourcing only from its own contracts, the company is able to control quality right from the raw materials stage. Managing Director David Coleman comments "Recycled aggregates are currently permitted a contaminant level of up to 2%, which necessarily restricts their use. We are aiming for zero contaminants which will allow us to compete confidently with primary materials whilst, at the same time, ensuring that raw material wastage is minimised, waste-to-landfill volumes are drastically reduced and valuable natural resources are conserved. We have owned and operated Powerscreen Chieftain and Powergrid plants for many years and have an excellent working relationship with Blue Machinery. For a recycling plant such as the one we envisaged, our confidence in Blue Machinery and the Powerscreen equipment they distribute made them the natural choice".

The new recycling plant is based around a tandem installation of Powerscreen dry screening, conveying and washing equipment. The raw materials are received by a Powerscreen Commander 1400 dry screener with a vibrating live head, 40mm top deck screen and 5mm "piano wires" for fines retrieval; an overband magnet on the main conveyor removes ferrous metals. Oversize materials are passed on to a crusher and recirculated for further screening. Mid-sized material is conveyed to a Powerscreen Powerscrub 120 log washer which floats out contaminants, leaving the clean product to be conveyed to a Powerscreen 12X5 Static Screen with a three-way split to produce clean saleable end products of 10mm, 20mm and 40mm. Decontaminated fines are subjected to another process which, through a thickening tank and filter press, produces a high quality and impervious "puddle clay" in cake form. The whole plant is electrically powered for "silent running" and totally emission-free operation.

Further information:
Karen Wilde,
Blue Machinery Plc.
Tel: 0845 230 4460.
Fax: 0845 658 2314
E-mail: karen.wilde@bluemachinerycentral.com