Willshee’s secures five-year deal with global cement brand

Added by Love Business East Midlands | 13 September 2022

UPDATED: 13 September 2022

Midlands-based Willshee’s Waste & Recycling has secured a multi-year contract to supply carbon offset fuel to one of the UK’s leading cement works, trading under the brand Lafarge Cement, and owned by Aggregate Industries, part of the Holcim Group – a global supplier of innovative green solutions to the construction industry.

The site is in Cauldon, near Ashbourne. Following Lafarge’s investment in an alternative fuel platform, operated by its waste division, Geocycle, it has contracted Willshee’s to supply an estimated 15,000 tonnes of Solid Recovered Fuel (SRF) a year - equating to three to four deliveries a day, five days a week. The SRF comes from Willshee’s state-of-the-art materials handling facility in Swadlincote, South Derbyshire, transported by Willshee’s own fleet of vehicles. This site primarily uses industrial and commercial waste to produce this high-quality sustainable fuel.

Once delivered to site, the cement kiln then recovers the thermal energy from the SRF to power the manufacturing process, whilst recycling any mineral content within the SRF into the final product, through a process called “co-processing”. The output from the kiln is used in a wide range of building products for the construction sector.

The production of SRF allows Willshee’s to follow its policy of zero waste to landfill, and the company is seeing a huge increase in demand for this fuel option within the UK market. Working with local businesses also means shorter journeys which reduce the carbon footprint and bring further environmental benefit.

Andrew Whyatt, Head of Geocycle UK, said:

"We are delighted to enter into this multi-year agreement with a rapidly growing and dynamic waste management company in Willshee’s. Their proximity to the Cauldon Cement Plant not only reduces the carbon footprint of the fuel that is manufactured at their advanced sorting facility in Swadlincote, but also provides us with excellent levels of service from their dedicated vehicle fleet.

“From the outset we were impressed with the drive, knowledge and flexibility of the team, and we look forward to a long and successful partnership."

Willshee’s commercial manager Simon Lowe added:

“Having worked very closely with Geocycle to get this project up and running, and to meet their very high standards of specification, it is exciting to see this contract now live. We look forward to developing a long-term relationship with the team at Geocycle, providing them with a consistent product. “We can now see the real benefits of our investment in the Swadlincote facility. Both in terms of our capacity to deliver a sustainable fuel for a global organisation like Geocycle as well as in terms of the scope for future expansion.”

To find out more about SRF at www.willshees.co.uk

Photo caption: L-R Simon Lowe, commercial manager Willshee’s Waste & Recycling and Andrew Whyatt, Head of Geocycle UK

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