08.07.2008

Forget Brighton Rock - fancy some Easter Langlee Rock?

Most locals already know that the site at Easter Langlee near Galashiels has facilities for recycling household waste. But many don't realise the extent of what can be recycled there - old roads and rubble for example.

In the past, the council and other parties such as utilities companies had to dispose of materials dug up during construction work at the nearest Landfill site. Now, thanks to some wonderful machinery, many of these materials can be recycled by SBc Contracts - part of Scottish Borders Council. This reduces the amount going to landfill and also generates revenue for the council.

Materials are brought in to the site and put through a machine which separates them into three piles - oversized, medium and fine.

The oversized material is put in a pile and when the quantities justify it, a crusher is brought in. This crushes the material (even any reinforced metal found within the rubble) to make Quarry Stone, which can then be re-used or sold to generate revenue.

The medium material is put through a new unit - the 'Power Scrub' which power washes the stone. The stone is then separated into 3 sized gravels and a coarse sand, again to be re-used or sold.

The fine material currently goes to landfill as daily cover material but this is far less than used to go there. 50,000 tons of material was taken in to Easter Langlee last year and 80 to 90% of the material was recycled into useable material.

All finished materials are then displayed in the SBc Contracts 'shop' - where customers can see the different varieties of materials they can purchase. The materials for sale are Type 1 sub-base, 3 to 4 inch crusher run, three different sizes of washed gravel for bedding pipes etc, a coarse sand and as-dug and graded topsoil. All of this contributes to the very impressive turnover (nearly £30m last year) of SBc Contracts, which makes it the most profitable part of the council. This allows other areas of the council to be subsidised and investment to be made in more technology to increase recycling rates and reduce landfill.

Len Wyse, Executive Member for Environmental Services said: "This project has been a real success in terms of managing to do something which benefits the environment and reduces landfill - which saves the council and ultimately the tax payer money".