Second CDE plant for Malcolm Construction

Recycling firm on target to divert over 500,000 tonnes from landfill annually with latest investment

SINCE their early days as a family-owned business in the 1920s, the Malcolm Group have now become one of the leading providers of logistics, construction, and maintenance services in the UK.

Malcolm Construction – a division of the Malcolm Group – have recently embarked on a second project with wet-processing industry specialists CDE to install a new 150 tonnes/h construction and demonstration (C&D) waste-recycling plant at their Beith site, outside Glasgow, that will further assist in the development of sustainable business solutions for the company.  

The subsidiary’s C&D waste-treatment, transfer and recycling operation is an asset within the business. Headquartered in Glasgow, with additional facilities in the south-west of Scotland at Irvine (Shewalton Quarry) and Beith (Loanhead Quarry), Malcolm Construction are expanding their portfolio of recycled aggregates (eg topsoil, subsoil etc), whilst offering customers a range of first-class waste-recycling services.

One of Malcolm Construction’s key priorities is that sustainable practices are embedded at the heart of the business and the new CDE waste-recycling plant will undoubtedly play a key role in helping the company minimize waste to landfill, increase recycling rates, and reduce its environmental impact.

At their Beith facility, the aggregates supplier identified that landfill space for waste products, which they could not treat and repurpose, was becoming exhausted. The company, therefore, set an objective to divert over 500,000 tonnes of material a year from landfill.

Ten years ago, Malcolm Construction worked with CDE to install a 70 tonnes/h recycling wash plant at Shewalton Quarry. The plant continues to operate to a great benefit of the company, and to date has diverted over 1.5 million tonnes from landfill. However, as a small capacity plant it could no longer meet growing demand alone.

After carefully researching the market and all the options for the commissioning of a new wash plant at Loanhead Quarry, Malcolm Construction concluded that CDE would offer them the best possible solution to meet their production requirements with the supply and installation of a new C&D waste-recycling wash plant. With the Beith site being a hard rock quarry, CDE sought to deliver a solution that would conserve the natural reserves of Loanhead Quarry, whilst saving tipping space.

Graeme Lindsay, waste transfer and recycling operations manager, commented: ‘We have had a ten-year relationship with CDE and greatly value its ‘Customer for Life’ model in which we have had nothing but positive experiences. In addition, we felt that this investment was our best approach to delivering on our sustainability goals by saving void capacity, extending the life of hard rock reserves, developing resources from waste, and aligning with further long-term business goals.’

The new waste-recycling facility delivered by CDE consists of an R4500 primary feeding and screening system; an AggMax 252R logwasher; an EvoWash sand washing fine material classification plant; an AquaCycleTM A600 thickener; and a filter press sludge dewatering system that increases water recycling to more than 95%.

Walter Malcolm, managing director of the Malcolm Group’s construction service division, said: ‘We overcame any issues in the installation process together with CDE, which were to be expected with a project of this scale. We also had to deal with the risk of Covid holding us back. I think it has been extraordinary that we managed to get the plant finished in the time we did and up and running as quickly as we did.’

The recycling plant is already proving its effectiveness and delivering high-quality in-spec products for Malcolm Construction, including 0–2mm soft sand and 0–4mm concrete sand. The recycled products will be used for concrete production, pipe bedding, and backfilling utility tracks amongst other applications.

David Kinloch, regional manager UK and Ireland for CDE, said: ‘We have been long term partners with Malcolm Construction and have always had a great working relationship, so we were pleased when they confirmed they wanted to reinvest with CDE to install a new plant at a second company location.

‘The waste-recycling solution we have installed is already providing new products for the company, to the benefit of its business objectives both in terms of return on investment and sustainability goals.’

Walter Malcolm added: ‘We knew the support we get from CDE, and we also know the quality and material we are going to produce. That, for us, made it quite a straightforward decision to partner with CDE again. It’s been a first-class experience and the build quality is excellent.

‘Sustainability is very important for us at Malcolm Construction. We've been operating here as a family business for nearly 100 years. We'd like to be here for another 100 years and value the contribution of CDE technology to making that ambition a reality.’

The new CDE waste-recycling wash plant will be the focus of an upcoming open day event on 7-8 September 2022. Extending an invitation to the industry, CDE and Malcolm Construction will host site and plant tours which will offer a unique look at the operation of this new waste-recycling solution.

For more information or to register your interest for the Malcolm Construction open day, please visit: www.cdegroup.com