Promotions
Roadstone Wood Dublin Ltd. were recently approached by Business in the Community Ireland BITCI to submit our C&D recycling business as part of their ‘Best Practice in Corporate Responsibility’ under their environmental section. The event was held in the ‘Customs House Quay’ in July 2006. A photo of our stand and our promotional excerpt from the event is contained below.
Theme: Construction Industry Best Practice.
Title: Recycling of inert segregated construction and demolition waste. Name of Company: Roadstone Wood Dublin Ltd.
Core Business Activity: Quarrying and supply of construction materials. Number of Employees: 600.
Business Issue:
Incentives to recycle construction and demolition waste (C&DW) have come from many quarters. A raft of environmental legislation both at EU and national level and policy documents such as Changing our Ways and Delivering Change from the Department of Environment and Local Government had come to the fore in recent years and recycling was a key issue in many sectors including the construction industry.
Waste management on our customer’s sites was now a key priority given the large costs associated in dealing with C&DW. Our customers were looking for a cost effective solution to their C&DW problems.
RDL proactively started to research the possibilities of recycling on a formal basis with the acceptance of inert segregated construction and demolition waste from sources other than its own internal material.
Solution Applied:
- From June 2002, Roadstone Wood Dublin Ltd. has been developing recycling facilities to cater for the recycling of C&DW in the greater Dublin area.
- The business model would facilitate the receipt of inert segregated at source C&DW only.
- The recycling facilities were located in convenient locations off the M50 motorway, for example; at Huntstown Quarry, Finglas, Belgard Quarry, Tallaght and Fassaroe Sand and Gravel Pit, Bray.
- The recycling facilities were located in existing quarries, thus customers could avail of ‘back-loading’ (a process whereby a customer can bring in C&DW and return with a full load of recycled or virgin material)
- In addition to our customers delivering C&DW to us, we also collect from their sites.
- The recycled product is manufactured so as to be compliant with the NRA’s ‘Specifications for Roadworks, 600 series’.
Benefits for the Company:
- Cost effective solution to managing our internal material.
- Improves the waste management of our locations and in turn the locations environmental performance.
- Recycling reduces dependency for virgin fill which can be better utilised in added value products such as concrete and asphalt.
- Provides a valuable additional service for our customers.
- The recycling business generates revenue streams by charging a gate fee to delivery C&DW to our facilities and also by selling the recycled product.
Benefits for the Stakeholder:
- Our facilities are strategically located around the M50 allowing for convenient access from anywhere in the Dublin area.
- Recycling at our facilities is a cost effective alternative to landfill charges.
- The use of back loading substantially reduces our customer’s haulage costs. • Segregation at source reduces our customer’s on-site waste management costs.
- We collect C&DW from the wider community at reduced charges to that of skip hire.
- Our recycling facilities are helping our Local Authorities achieve their recycling targets for the construction sector.
Challenges Encountered:
- Changing the culture of the construction sector to segregate at source rather than dump all C&DW material into a skip.
- The time frames for awarding Waste Management Permits varied dramatically between Local Authorities.
- Prior to June 2005, recycled material had no specification to which its performance could be compared, thus making it difficult to sell the material.
Tips/Points to Remember:
- C&DW recycling if not managed correctly is potentially a high risk, low margin business, therefore training and communication with employees and industry is vital.