aggregate industries getting fired up for recycled pottery

The leading building materials supplier has partnered with Brown Recycling which processes “pitcher waste” - the pottery that has been broken or rejected in the course of manufacture.

Brown Recycling, the Stoke-on-Trent based total waste management solutions business, crushes the pitcher waste it receives from ceramics companies such as Wedgewood, Steelite and Churchill and delivers it in bulk to the Cauldon Cement Plant, near Leek.

An initial 4,000 tonnes per annum will be delivered with the view to expand this. At Cauldon it is used as an alternative raw material and mixed with other components to create cement.

The pitcher pottery waste would in the past have been disposed of in landfill so this repurposes an otherwise waste material and also reduces the amount of natural resources which have to be extracted for cement production.

Andrew Whyatt, Geocycle UK General Manager at Aggregate Industries, said: “We’re delighted to be working with Brown Recycling and utilising what essentially is a waste stream into new cement which will go on to be used in building projects around the country.

“Using the waste pottery and upcycling it into the cement production process means we have to use less raw materials dug up from the ground, therefore preserving resources and preventing materials from going to landfill.

“Circularity is a central part of our decarbonisation agenda and we want to move from a take-make-waste economy to a reduce-recycle-regenerate one.”

Mitch Brown, Co Managing Director at Brown Recycling said: “As a Staffordshire based business with a long heritage in sustainable waste management, we are always looking for ways to ensure the commercial waste we collect and process is recycled and reused.

“It is an excellent example of regional industrial symbiosis and the circular economy model of recycling and reintroducing this local waste into another production cycle. It also builds on our expertise in ceramic waste management, delivering a long-term sustainable solution for pitcher waste with a 100% recycle and reuse outcome.

“Our partnership with Aggregate Industries is a great example of this and we’re looking forward to working with them on similar opportunities for other waste materials.”

Cauldon was Britain’s first dry process cement plant when it opened in 1957. The plant  produces one million tonnes of cement a year and employs 125 permanent staff and 30 contractors.

Finbd out more information about the work of Geocycle UK. For more information on Aggregate Industries approach to sustainability read its dedicated pages.