Backhus turns up trumps for Scottish Water Waste Services

Scottish Water Waste Services is part of Scottish Water and is turning green and other organic raw waste materials into high quality compost at purpose-built premises near Cumbernauld. The company expects to produce in excess of 20,000 tonnes of compost this year and is currently extending the production capacity with a new concrete pad to enlarge the area for additional composting. In order to efficiently and effectively turn and transpose the waste materials during the eight-weeks composting process, Scottish Water Waste Services has purchased a Backhus 10.30 compost turner/transposer, from distributor Blue Machinery Scotland, for its Deerdykes Composting & Organics Recycling facility.

The incoming raw green and organic waste materials for processing into compost comes from a wide catchment area. Deliveries via roll-on-off, RCV’s and skip lorries are all made from civil amenity sites and kerbside collections operated by numerous municipal authorities. These include Glasgow City Council, East and West Dumbartonshire County Councils, Argyle & Bute Council and North Lanarkshire Council, amongst others. The incoming material is shredded to the required size. The shredded and screened waste is then piled into extended bed windrows with the Backhus 10.30 turning and transposing each windrow eight times during the eight-week process. Regular temperature and moisture readings are made and the product is closely monitored throughout composting. Naturally, Scottish Water Waste Services’ standard operating procedure is fully compliant with the Composting Association’s stringent PAS 100 quality management system recognition.

The high-quality end product is widely distributed throughout the region, finding a ready market for soil improvement in industries as diverse as agriculture, commercial and municipal landscaping, recreation and sports facilities, garden centres and commercial horticulture.

The Backhus 10.30 Compost Turner/Transposer is one of a whole range of high technology compost and soil turners, transposers and trapezoidal turning machines, using the site-proven roto-milling technique and marketed throughout the UK by Blue Machinery. Designed and built for the essential turning and milling of materials in the composting process, Backhus equipment is compact yet robust, highly productive and a typical example of German engineering excellence, with TUV certification and a quality management system to EN ISO 9001. The production and low maintenance benefits of infinitely variable hydraulic drive, ergonomically designed operators’ cabs and true versatility contribute to the success of this leading marque.

The Backhus 10.30 is specifically designed for composting operations using trapezoid or tabular heaps. The material is milled off by twin rotors and then moved laterally by a high-performance delivery belt with a continuous belt speed up to 5 metres per second. Transposition of around 1600 cubic metres of material per hour can be achieved and the hydraulic drive allows infinitely variable travel speeds of up to 5kmh during the working cycle and 25kmh for normal travel. The Backhus 10.30 can comfortably treat heap heights of 3 metres and transpose to a heap height of 3.6 metres; the 3000mm long milling rotors are height adjustable by 250mm.  The comfortable yet functional driving cab is ergonomically designed for optimum productivity and minimum driver fatigue. Swivelling and height adjustable, the cab features a protective ventilation system to prevent particle and odour ingress and provides the operator with an ideal work station with an excellent overview of the work in progress at all times.

Further information:

Karen Wilde,
Blue Machinery Plc.

Appleton Thorn Trading Estate
Appleton Thorn
Warrington
Cheshire
WA4 4SN
Tel: 0845 230 4460.
Fax: 0845 658 2314