Siltbuster technology has been used by Alandale Logistics on the redevelopment of King's Cross. Using the kit, over the past two years Alandale can now reveal it has improved the efficiency of its sweeper operation by increasing sweeper utilisation by 35% and lowering the volume of waste for disposal by 90%.

King's Cross is being transformed into a new part of the city with 50 new and refurbished buildings, 1,900 new homes, 20 new streets, 10 new public parks and squares plus shops, offices, galleries, bars, restaurants, schools and even a university.

Alandale Logistics, which provides onsite services to construction companies, is working for Carillion and Argent on the redevelopment, removing the waste produced during the work. Its sweepers handle many tonnes per week of wet waste; a watery mix of soil, clay, litter, grit and vegetation.

On a project of this scale, disposing of this sweeper waste might become very expensive. Bob Marriott, Logistics Manager for Alandale Logistics explains: "Taking the road sweepers to an external disposal site would lose up to 35% of each vehicle's day. That's a really inefficient use of their time as they are valuable pieces of equipment and need to be on site working not sitting around stuck in London traffic."

Alandale also recognised that a significant proportion of the waste is water. If this could be separated out and treated, the volume of waste for disposal would be reduced by up to 90% and so costs would be further reduced.

In response Alandale asked Siltbuster if it could provide an onsite system to dewater the waste and minimise these material handling and disposal costs. Siltbuster suggested its RORO sweeper washout solution.

Using the system Alandale's road sweepers don't need to leave the site. They reverse up a ramp and discharge their loads directly into an initial RORO skip. Coarse particles quickly settle to the bottom of the skip and litter is retained for subsequent disposal. A pump transfers the silt-laden water in the skip, via a chemical dosing system which helps with the removal of the very small clay particles, and into a specialist Siltstoppa™ bag stored within a second RORO skip. Any suspended solids are retained inside the Siltstoppa™ bag and the residual water bleeds through the fabric. This treated water can then be discharged into a surface water drain. When full, the RORO skips are emptied on site via an excavator or grab lorry and disposed offsite.

James Baylis, Sales Engineer at Siltbuster said: "This particular application vividly demonstrates how we have come up with a solution that has environmental best practice at its heart but which absolutely delivers real commercial benefits too."

LINKS
Siltbuster
Alandale Logistics
King's Cross project - Contractors