New Aggregates Recycling Centre Opens for Business

Built by Coleman & Co Ltd and awarded £390,741 in funding from WRAP, the recycling centre is equipped with segregation, processing and washing plant which will enable them to produce high quality recycled aggregates for use in construction and in the ready mixed concrete industry. The facility will handle waste from the company's own core activities of demolition, land reclamation and bulk excavation, as well as waste materials from external contracts and third parties.

Speaking at the opening, WRAP chairman Vic Cocker said: "Construction, demolition and excavation waste amounts to almost 100 million tonnes per year in the UK and represents a valuable sustainable resource.

"One of WRAP's key objectives is to develop the UK's recycling infrastructure and we are delighted to support Coleman's new facility, which will make a real contribution to increasing the use of recycled aggregates in the future."

Located in Great Barr, the new centre is due to reach full capacity in Spring 2006, by which time Coleman estimate that it will be processing over 2,000 tonnes of waste material per week.

"The funding from WRAP has supported the construction of a first class recycling facility that will process material previously destined for landfill into valuable usable products," said David Coleman, managing director of Coleman & Co Ltd. "It has allowed us to take a sustainable approach to our own material use, as well as providing a recycling service to construction industry customers."

ENDS

Downloadable photographs will be available on the WRAP Media Centre (www.mediacentre.info/wrap) from 12pm on Wednesday 18th May 2005.

Notes to editors:

1. WRAP (the Waste & Resources Action Programme) is a major UK programme established to promote resource efficiency. Its particular focus is on creating stable and efficient markets for recycled materials and products and removing the barriers to waste minimisation, re-use and recycling.
2. A not-for-profit company in the private sector, WRAP is backed by substantial Government funding from Defra, DTI and the devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
3. WRAP has laid down targets across fifteen programmes. Twelve of these relate to market development, comprising six material streams (Paper, Plastics, Glass, Wood, Organics and Aggregates, Tyres, Batteries and Plasterboard) and three generic areas (Procurement, Financial Mechanisms and Regional Market Development). Three further programmes relate to the wider resource efficiency remit - Collections, Communications and Awareness and Waste Minimisation.
4. WRAP has set a target to increase the production capacity for recycled and secondary aggregates by up to 3 million tonnes a year by March 2006. Recycled aggregates can be produced by reprocessing materials - such as concrete, brick, asphalt, unbound sub-bases - previously used in construction. Secondary aggregates are typically by-products of other industrial processes not previously used in construction, such as china clay waste, foundry sand, glass, tyres, and plastic.
5. WRAP's AggRegain service (www.aggregain.org.uk) provides information on materials, specifications, case studies and suppliers for all recycled and secondary aggregates and their applications.
6. More information on all of WRAP's programmes can be found on www.wrap.org.uk

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