A TEES Valley concrete company has cemented plans to reduce its impact on the environment and reduce haulage costs by nearly a third.
Minimix North East, based at Haverton Hill, created four extra jobs when it decided to recycle hardcore created by its sister company Heritage Driveways to use in its concrete mix and as foundation material.
Working with the Manufacturing Advisory Service North East (MAS NE) it managed to divert 80% of waste into other uses, including selling recycled aggregates on to other users, cutting the need for virgin quarried material by 15%.
MD Peter Marley said adopting new ways of working had helped the company survive one of the most challenging periods in its 20-year history.
The company also captures and reuses waste water from its site and processes and sells screened soil collected from driveway installations to sell to landscapers.
MAS NE is providing other direct help to Minimix including ISO accreditation support which has enabled Minimix to bid for more work and assess its systems and processes.
It is anticipated that ISO accreditation will open up a new market for environmentally friendly concrete, with an anticipated sales increase of 30%.
Meanwhile, a feasibility study for a wind turbine capable of generating all of Minimix's electricity is expected to show a payback over four years.
Detailed advice on data collection and analysis to put the new systems in place was down to MAS North East engineer, Jim Barr.
“It is great to see the workforce at Minimix challenging all aspects of their business. It has enabled them to be more pro-active at planning and responding to customers’ needs and market changes.
“One of the major results of this work is that landfill costs have been dramatically reduced, operating costs due to reduced materials and haulage have also been reduced by approximately 30%, and four jobs are being created once the recycling side of the business has been established.”
The business has also recently obtained additional brownfield land to extend the concrete waste recycling process, and has plans to recover further land, as this strand of their business grows.
MAS NE is part funded through the ERDF Competitiveness Programme 2007-13 managed by regional development agency One North East, bringing more than £250m into the North-east.
Its emphasis on enterprise and business support is encouraging SMEs to develop, grow and innovate.