British Prime Minister David Cameron visited a construction and demolition waste recycling plant in the city of Oxford, England, to see the latest recycling technology in action.
His visit preceded the publication of the UK Government’s mid-term review which sets out plans for investment in new road programmes, details of which will be published over the coming months.
During his visit he saw how construction and demolition waste material could be effectively recycled for use on road construction projects.
Sheehan Contractors installed a new washing plant for construction, demolition and excavation waste in early 2012 and is now supplying a wide range of recycled sand and aggregates to local construction contractors and virgin sand and aggregate producers as well as using the material on the company’s own construction contracts.
“I was delighted to visit Sheehan’s construction and demolition waste recycling plant in my constituency on. The project is something that I wholeheartedly support: not only will it make a positive difference to our environment but I hope that it will also help to inspire and encourage more businesses in the industry to get involved in similar projects and to really make a positive difference to our recycling practice here in the UK,” said the Prime Minister.
“The new processing system from CDE is the latest technology available for the processing of this material and provides an opportunity for us to move recycled sand and aggregates up the value chain” says Chris Sheehan, managing director at Sheehan Contractors.
“This material should be seen for the valuable resource that it is and for the potential it offers to protect long term aggregate supply from a sustainable source.”
The new recycling plant is located in the Dix Pit industrial complex on the outskirts of Oxford and represents a multi-million pound investment by Sheehan Contractors as it expands its recycling operations.
In the UK 20% of total aggregates production is currently from recycled sources representing approximately 40 million tonnes. Under the revised Waste Framework Directive EU Member States are required to recover a minimum of 70% of construction and demolition waste by 2020, and 2013 is the first year that progress towards this target will be measured.
Commenting on this initiative Tara Sheehan, financial controller with Sheehan Contractors said: “The new targets outlined in the revised Waste Framework Directive focus the mind on existing recycling practice in the UK. While our performance as an industry to date is commendable we need to move on to the next level in terms of how we view this waste stream and maximise recovery.
“It is only through the deployment of advanced processing systems such as the one we invested in that we will be able to make real progress and increase awareness about the high value recycled products that can be produced.”
Sheehan Contractors plan an additional expansion with a potential site on the east side of County Oxfordshire having been identified.
“Our future plans include the development of a new facility which would double our recycled aggregate production capacity in a strategically important location enabling us to grow market share and also play our part in diverting large volumes of C&D waste material from landfill,” said Chris Sheehan.
