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West Midlands Resource Reuse Network

Supporting businesses to enable the sharing of waste and resources across the region

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West Midlands Resource Reuse Network

The West Midlands Resource Reuse Network is a free regional service helping businesses to find practical reuse opportunities for metals, sand, wastewater sludge and filter cake streams. Delivered on behalf of the West Midlands Combined Authority, the network connects companies to share resources, delivering positive cost and carbon reduction impacts across the region.

About The Project

Building on over two decades delivering industrial symbiosis services in the West Midlands, International Synergies Ltd (ISL) are delighted to announce that we will be continuing this service on behalf of the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA).

The West Midland Resource Reuse Network is a regional, facilitated programme based on the WMCA’s core policy objectives highlighting the following waste steams: wastewater sludge, sand and metals. The WMRRN project enables ISL to provide support to companies managing these waste streams with the potential to generate impact including cost and carbon savings, new revenue streams, job creation, waste reduction, resource efficiency and social value creation.

Case Studies

Here are some case studies of the the programme in action.

A pile of various pieces of wooden decking

Decking to Abrasives

  • Millboard manufacture man made decking and cladding and distribute internationally
  • Challenge was to find a new market for process dust and out of spec panels, comprising fibre glass and binding resins
  • Existing solution was collection for incineration by waste processor
  • Cost of c£250k to business and associated CO2 emissions
  • ISL facilitated link to SurfacePrep UK to take material and incorporate into abrasive product range substituting virgin sand and glass raw material
  • Products go into cast metal sector etc.
  • Delivered Impacts
    • 8,000tpa material diverted into productive use
    • 8,000tpa virgin material avoided
    • 11,250tpa of CO2 reduction
    • Cost savings of c£200,000pa

 

Construction to Cricket Pitches

  • GEDA are an Irish tier 1 construction company working on West Midlands based infrastructure projects such as HS2 and STW AMP8 and are part of the WMRRN regional infrastructure group (RIG)
  • Challenge was to find an outlet for 200te of topsoil and subsoil material that would otherwise go to landfill at cost
  • The committee chairman of Knowle Cricket Club (Solihull) was known to WMRRN via its business network
  • WMRRN obtained a U1 exemption for the club to allow them to take the soil to create a ‘spectator viewing mound’ for the new cricket season
  • Delivered Impacts
    • 200te of material diverted into productive use
    • 200te of virgin material avoided
    • 1.5 te of CO2 reduction
    • Cost savings of £5500
A factory with various machines and orange robotic arms

Shaftec Automotive

  • Shaftec Auto are an automotive supply chain company, refurbishing vehicle parts to supply into the regional and international automotive sector.
  • A WMRRN site visit uncovered opportunities to improve waste segregation practices and a new market for their used shotblast
  • WMRRN introduced Shaftec to SurfacePrep who are providing a circular solution on shotblast, supplying a new sustainable media and taking away the used shot to incorporate in their own abrasive material product range.
  • Further synergies are being advanced with HyProMag, investigating the recovery of rare earth magnets from electric vehicle lines
  • Delivered impacts
    • 70tpa of material diverted into productive use
    • 70tpa of virgin material avoided
    • 267tpa CO2 reduction
    • Cost savings of £22,000pa (disposal and more cost-effective raw materials)

Foundry Shotblast to Abrasives

  • WMRRN has been working on new markets for cast metal foundry byproducts as part of it’s priority material focus. This includes casting sands, sand cores, shotblast, refractory bricks and extraction dusts.
  • NRS aggregates are advancing negotiations with foundries on sand to include in their aggregate mix, which is supplied to the concrete and construction sectors
  • Newby Foundry have completed synergies involving their shotblast materials, taking more sustainable shot and supplying their own waste into an abrasive manufacturer to complete the circle
  • Thomas Dudley have obtained grant from the Clean Futures Accelerator (Innovate UK) to improve byproduct segregation and allow opportunities to be realised in aggregate and abrasive supply chains identified through WMRRN
  • Delivered impacts (complete)
    • 260tpa of material diverted into productive use
    • 260tpa of landfill diversion
    • 993tpa CO2 reduction
    • £31,200pa of cost savings
    • £TBC Private Investment

Delivering Social Value

  • WMRRN works with a diverse network of social enterprises throughout the West Midlands diverting smaller volumes of material into productive use, delivering additional social value in alongside the usual cost and carbon savings.
  • Third sector organisations supported include Birmingham Play Care Network, Jericho Woodshack and ReCognition Circular
  • Materials diverted into productive use are varied and include rubber gasket offcuts, damaged pallets, redundant IT equipment and office furniture items
  • Delivered impacts
    • 2tpa of material diverted into productive use
    • 2tpa of landfill diversion
    • 2tpa CO2 reduction
    • £2700pa of cost savings
A pile of plastic bottled and different coloured can

Waste Plastic to Work Surfaces

  • What Plastics are a based in Bromsgrove and turn a wide variety of plastic wastes into worksurfaces which are used in household kitchens and VW camper vans
  • WMRRN has facilitated the diversion of a number of plastic streams into What Plastics such as smart meter display covers from MWA Technologies and plastic barrels from Widney Engineering
  • Smaller volumes of materials have also been supplied from Midlands Arts Centre (MAC) and WMRRN continues to support the identification of new raw material streams
  • Potential to divert significant volumes of plastic materials over life of WMRRN
  • Delivered impacts
    • 2tpa of material diverted into productive use
    • 2tpa of landfill diversion
    • 6tpa CO2 reduction
    • £500pa of cost savings (does not yet include savings in raw material costs)

A Resilient Circular Garnet  Solution

  • Jordhan Engineering are a small SME, who provide water jet cutting and metal fabrication services from their production site in the Black Country
  • The company attended a WMRRN resource matching workshop where a potential match was identified with abrasive supplier, Hodge Clemco to take their used garnet material (for metal cutting) and to supply a UK source of garnet (previously this was coming from overseas)
  • Hodge Clemco is now providing a more resilient source of garnet, and three loads of the used material has been collected free of charge to be used in abrasive manufacture processes
  • Delivered impacts
    • 9tpa of material diverted into productive use
    • 9tpa of landfill diversion
    • 1tpa CO2 reduction
    • £1080pa of cost savings (does not yet include savings in raw material costs)