Based in central Alsace, Entreprise Spiess specialises in material recycling, public and private works across demolition and construction, and equipment freight and rental. The company, founded in 1977, works with national and regional public works companies, local builders and developers, as well as local and regional authorities.
With CDE’s advanced waste recycling solution, the family-run business has expanded its operations to recycle excavation waste at its Sablière Oesch site, a sand and gravel quarry in Lingolsheim, strategically located close to the major axes of the Strasbourg Eurometropolis.
One of the largest capital investments in the company’s history, the commissioning of the new plant is a milestone moment for Entreprise Spiess as it advances its sustainability aims and its contribution to the circular economy in the construction industry region-wide.
Entreprise Spiess CEO Jean-Michel Spiess said: “This new activity accelerates the development of our recycling business. We’ve been really impressed by CDE’s dedication to understand where we are as a family business and where we’re going so that the solution in place today can help deliver on short-term objectives that feed into long-term goals, both for Entreprise Spiess and for the circular economy in our region.”
Futureproof
Commissioned in March of this year, the project, which was delivered within one year, is supported by Climaxion, a programme created by Ademe and Région Grand Est that accompanies businesses in their eco-responsible approaches.
“Our Sablière Oesch site is a strategic location in the Strasbourg Eurometropolis, close to major roads, where we have invested for the future in order to make a lasting contribution,” Jean-Michel said.
“CDE’s solution is enabling us to responsibly manage the waste streams from our construction activities and limit the consumption of natural resources, all whilst producing high-quality, in-spec eco-materials. We’re confident this plant will contribute positively, both environmentally and economically, to the region.”
Built for versatility and efficiency
Designed collaboratively, the new plant boasts exceptional versatility, capable of processing both excavated soils from public works alongside natural materials like sand and gravel from nearby quarries.
With innovation at its core, the plant benefits from a processing capacity of 130 tonnes per hour (tph) for excavated materials and 200tph for natural materials, ensuring efficient waste management and the production of high-quality construction materials.
The backbone of the process is CDE’s AggMax scrubbing and classification system, which combines pre-screening, washing, scrubbing, lighweight and organics removal, and sizing on a compact chassis to produce a range of washed and graded aggregates ready for market straight from the belt. It’s complemented by an advanced sand treatment solution, which includes three CDE EvoWash sand washing systems – one of which integrates CDE’s Counter Flow Classification Unit (CFCU) – to recover a variety of in-spec construction sands. Integrating with the sand washing and classification process is CDE’s ShearClean attrition cells and an organics screen which maximise fines recovery and provide efficient removal of contaminants to ensure consistently graded sand products.
Industry-leading water management and recycling, enabled by a combination of CDE’s AquaCycle thickener, a filter press, and a series of buffer and water storage tanks, underscores the solutions and ensures the recovery of the process water for immediate re-use in the washing process.
Future-ready
The sophisticated wash plant also features a number of technological advancements, including intelligent de-stocking by radial conveyors. It allows for differentiated storage of final products, helping to optimise space availability on-site and ensure products are quickly and accurately separated.
CDE’s SmartTech enables Entreprise Spiess to understand how the plant is performing by providing real-time data analysis and insights to facilitate informed decision-making that can increase productivity, improve operational efficiency and maximise up-time. In addition, CDE’s OptiMax, part of its suite of intelligent plant optimisation tools, is constantly reading live material data in the washing process and advising the loading operator on how they can improve their performance.
In-spec products, every time
Processing a mix of excavated soils and natural materials the wash plant had produced 10,000 tonnes of output within its first two weeks of operation. By the end of its first three months, it has produced over 50,000 tonnes.
Entreprise Spiess co-director Madeline Spiess said: “Our goal is to process over 200,000 tonnes of inert waste per year. The eco-materials, sands and aggregates, we’re producing are 100% recycled and have a positive environmental impact. They’re like-for-like in terms of quality when compared to their natural counterparts, but they’re much more environmentally friendly and are helping to ease pressure on fast depleting finite natural resources.”
Entreprise Spiess is producing nine products, including washed eco-sands in 0-1mm, 0-2mm and 0-4mm; washed eco-aggregates in 4-8mm, 8-16mm, 16-32mm, 32-80mm; and a filter cake.
The company’s product suite of eco-sands and eco-aggregates are supporting major civil engineering, infrastructure, and public works projects while its natural materials meet CE standards for use in concrete production.
Madeline continued: “We took some time through the pandemic to fine tune our wants for the future of the business and needs for the recycling activity after initially meeting CDE in 2019. Once we reconnected in bauma three years later, we began working on this project together. We were able to visit other plants nearby that had similar capabilities to what we desired, and seeing CDE’s technology in action helped solidify that this partnership was the right one for us.
“Having CDE’s technology and resources at our fingertips has made this entire process so efficient. With the SmartTech and OptiMax technology we’ve been able to monitor and enhance performance quickly, and CDE’s dedicated team of experts are always on hand to support us through this journey.”
CDE’s business development manager for France, Switzerland and Belgium, Regis Marty, said the plant is strategically located to serve multiple markets.
“Thanks to its strategic location in the Strasbourg Eurometropolis, close to construction sites, Entreprise Spiess is able to receive and process material, and supply products, including its new range of eco-material. This strategic location will undoubtedly make Entreprise Spiess and its new plant key players when it comes to advancing the circular economy in the region. The versatility of the installation and process will help to ease pressure on natural resources by recovering viable products from waste streams, which is largely composed of Rhine alluvial deposit, while also processing virgin product with greater efficiency than before to maximise product retention and eliminate fines.
“This is our third plant in the region, and we’re delighted that another firm has trusted our team and our solutions to champion a better way of managing our natural resources.”
CDE and Entreprise Spiess will be hosting a virtual tour of the new plant guided by CDE’s team of experts to showcase each stage of the washing process on 29 October at 10 am CET.
For more information or to register to attend, please visit cdegroup.com/spiess-webinar.
