EDGE Innovate supply vital Equipment to Saudi Arabia’s first Construction Waste recycling facility

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Saudi Arabia’s first recycling facility for construction debris in the capital, Riyadh began operation in July 2021 as the Kingdom targets an overhaul of a landfill-dominated waste-management industry. The effort has been led by the Saudi Investment Recycling Company (SIRC), a subsidiary of the government’s sovereign wealth fund.

“The new waste-sorting and recycling facility is only the beginning of a series of similar facilities to be launched within the next three years, with a broader goal of recycling all kinds of waste, such as fertilizers, paper, plastic and metals,” Jeroen Vincent, the company’s chief executive.

PROJECT SCOPE

Located in Al Khair, north district of Riyadh, SIRC’s new plant spans an area of 1.3 million square meters for the Construction Demolition Waste (CDW) facility and has been designed to handle approximately 600 tons of construction and demolition waste  per hour and achieve recycling rates of more than 90%. The recycling company wants the new facility to recycle the 20 million ton of CDW dumped and accumulated every year in vacant plots, as well as 5 million ton of annually recurring CDW disposed of in illegal landfills or old sites by 2035. The debris will be turned into materials for use in road construction and housing projects, including a 35,000-unit housing project, the company said.

WASTE MANAGEMENT SOLUTIONS FROM EDGE INNOVATE

The facility utilises innovative mobile equipment from leading European brands that can be moved between recycling sites and retrofitted to deal with various absorptive capacities according to local needs. To ensure the best quality end product and to achieve the lowest operational cost possible for the project, a fleet of track stockpilers and a mobile picking station have been purchased from Northern Ireland based manufacturer, EDGE Innovate. The EDGE brand name is intrinsically linked to the manufacturing of mobile bulk material handling and recycling solutions, all of which have been designed to improve productivity and mobility whilst minimising operator costs. Their equipment has been trusted throughout the world and is recognised for its’ built quality and reliability.

CONSTRUCTION AND DEMOLITION WASTE CLEAN UP EQUIPMENT

With the vast volume of CDW expected to pass through the new Al Khair facility, SIRC made the decision to purchase an EDGE MPS48 sorting station to support the recovery of a greater volume of material whilst ensuring the safety of their staff from the ever-increasing volume of traffic on the site.

Fitted with heating and air conditioning modules, the EDGE MPS48 picking station provides a safe and comfortable working environment for the picking team. By improving the presentation of the waste stream, pickers work to remove contaminants from the construction and demolition waste ensuring a superior recycled aggregate product that is free from contaminants. The picking station also provides the opportunity to recover additional commodities such as ferrous metal.

The EDGE MPS48 is designed specifically for multiple sized separation of mixed waste or single stream recyclable materials. Screened construction and demolition waste material is delivered onto the heavy duty feed hopper of the EDGE MPS48 sorting station. The material is then conveyed to a 4 bay double sided picking station which can accommodate up to 16 people. The pickers drop the different materials into the relevant bays below. The clean aggregate material then passes under a high-powered over-band magnet ensuring maximum recovery of the ferrous metal. The final step is a high velocity blower with chute work; allowing any light contaminants to be separated by air flow from the clean brick and concrete.

EDGE MATERIAL HANDLING SOLUTIONS

The now clean, heavy aggregates transfers over a series of crushers and screeners for the creation of different grade recycled aggregates. A series of EDGE TS-Series track stackers are utilised as linking conveyors between the mobile crushers and screeners and for the efficient stockpiling of recycled aggregates. By utilising a fleet of 5 EDGE track mounted stockpilers, Riyadh municipality have eliminated the double handling of material and reduced the over reliance of wheel loaders on the site. Using only a small percentage of the fuel burnt in comparison of a wheel loader, an EDGE track conveyor can move up to 7000 tonnes of crushed aggregate, using only half of the fuel a wheel loader would consume in an average day. The utilisation of conveyors also cuts down on the required labour, reduces the number of moving vehicles, improves health and safety concerns and cuts down on the volume of dust created by the overall project. Mounted on hydraulic driven crawler tracks, operators can easily and quickly reposition the units, allowing the conveyors to be positioned close to the waste material at all times.

Faisal Al Qahtani, Operations Manager, SIRC, said on the partnership with EDGE Innovate, “SIRC is among the leading companies in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia that is focused on achieving a circular economy. We are constantly looking at the best technologies and solutions to secure the right infrastructure for the waste management sector. The equipment supplied and manufactured by EDGE Innovate perfectly aligns to those requirements”.

The EDGE TS-Series track stackers purchased by SIRC boast an array of design features including a highly efficient hydraulic drive system with variable belt speed, low fuel consumption, a hydraulic adjustable feed and working angle. The ability to adjust the feed point and discharge height helps to reduce material impact, dust creation and eliminates material segregation thus ensuring the quality of the processed products. A discharge height of up to 10.8m facilitates the creation of conical stockpiles of up to 742m³.

The new CDW facility at Riyadh is aligned with SIRC’s strategic plan to implement a world-class waste management system and position the Kingdom at the forefront of innovative recycling. It has provided employment opportunities to more than 160 people.

In addition to complying with the latest global practices in waste treatment, the Al Khair CDW plant is fitted with state-of-the-art systems and technologies that will allow SIRC to recycle large volumes of construction and demolition waste in future, Jeroen concluded.

ABOUT EDGE INNOVATE

EDGE Innovate develops, manufacturers and markets sophisticated technologies for shredding, stacking, screening and sorting of primary and secondary raw materials in production processes and recycling. Our Material handling and recycling range is made up of reliable, durable and cost saving products with a wide range of mobile stockpilers, tracked stackers, tracked and mobile feeders, trommels, slow-speed waste shredders, picking stations, material classifiers, roll-sizers and truck off-loaders. Our product range allows our customers; to shred, screen, separate, stockpile and size a vast array of materials

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