Lafarge enter glass-recycling market

"LAFARGE Aggregates have signalled their determination to become a significant player in the coloured-glass recycling market by securing Environment Agency-accredited glass-reprocessor status at two of their key recycling facilities, with three further applications in the pipeline."

"At Harper Lane, in Hertfordshire, some 6.5 million bottles a year are currently being processed, although the site has the capacity to handle three times that amount, while the company’s Ashbury site in Manchester handles some 8 million bottles annually. Both sites are accredited to ISO 9002."

In both cases the waste glass is crushed and screened to produce an aggregate substitute which can be blended with primary materials to meet the requirements of both the HSE and Clause 29 (bitumen-bound layers) of the Specification for Highways Works under the May 2001 amendments.

"Andrew Bate, Lafarge’s general manager of waste, landfill and recycling, said: ‘Glass recycling is a logical extension to the company’s established business and allows us to provide an additional service to both established and new clients."

"‘The latest WRAP report on the recycled-glass market identifies that England produces about 1.4 million tonnes of coloured glass a year, of which only half is reused by bottle manufacturers. It obviously makes sense to provide a stable, growing market for a waste material which would otherwise have no beneficial use and also helps to conserve natural resources."

"‘In Hertfordshire, where we are involved in a 10-year maintenance contract with the council, we can already turn the county’s glass into the county’s roads. We are actively seeking similar contracts with other local authorities and providers of coloured glass, and we would also be delighted to talk to end-users and specifiers about how they can use our reprocessed glass material in their work.’"