100% Recycling at Centrum Pile

Precast concrete pile supplier Centrum Pile now recycles 100% of waste generated on their site based in Newark, Nottinghamshire resulting in an 8% cost saving to the business.

Scrap metal, concrete, electrical equipment, waste oil and waste oil containers, scrap batteries, oil rags, fuel filters, aerosol cans, cardboard, plastic, paper, tin and wood are all waste streams in the business that will be recycled by various waste carriers.

One of the waste-management companies, Biffa Plc, will divert all of the company’s general waste from landfill, using their network of specialist waste processing facilities.

Centrum Pile also recycle the rainwater harvested from the roof of their concrete curing chamber for use in the batching plants.

This generates enough sufficient water to manufacture approximately 50% of their concrete without having to use the “mains supply” and saves over 90,000 litres per week or 4,320,000 litres per annum.

Furthermore, a small amount of unused concrete at the end of each production shift is collected by a local company that crushes, recycles and reuses it as class 1 aggregates for roads or other fill material.

In addition, the minimal amount of waste rebar from their reinforcement cage manufacturing process is also collected by a local company for recycling.

Centrum Pile’s General Manager Paul Pendleton said:

“Like other offsite methods of construction, precast concrete piles offer the known advantages in terms of efficiency of the construction process by improved construction programme, better budget controls and improved quality. However, due to the manufacturing process, precast concrete piles also bring in important reductions in materials needed and in turn waste produced on site. Indeed, precast concrete piles are one of the most commonly used offsite construction materials in the UK with circa 3,000,000 metres of piles manufactured and driven per annum”.

This year, the Newark based manufacturer also announced a corporate partnership with the Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust, one of the county’s leading conservation charities run by local people for the benefit of local wildlife.