Recycling specialist Scott Bros has invested in a pioneering water filtration system that enables its £6m wash plant to operate entirely using recycled water – believed to be a world first.
Its £6m wash plant, based at South Bank, Middlesbrough, is one of the UK’s largest ‘urban quarries’ and uses water to extract high-quality aggregates from construction and excavation waste, diverting thousands of tonnes from landfill each year.
The plant previously operated using a mix of site water and rainwater, topped up with mains water. Now, following an in-house modification of the filtration system, that reliance has been eliminated.
Scott Bros installed ultra-fine 10-micron filters, allowing the system to recycle rainwater more efficiently by preventing suspended solids from clogging jet nozzles. The upgrade makes it possible to process up to 300 tonnes of material per hour using only recycled water.
It now only requires mains water in exceptional circumstances, such as a period of prolonged drought, significantly reducing both environmental impact and operating costs.
Peter Scott, a director at Scott Bros, said: “To the best of our knowledge, this is the first wash plant in the world to run entirely on recycled water, a remarkable achievement for a family-run business. Water is an increasingly precious resource, and by harvesting rainwater and recycling every drop on site, we’re setting a new standard for sustainable aggregate production.”
Scott Bros is also involved in several innovative sustainability projects based on a by-one of the wash plant’s byproducts, a fine-grained clay known as ‘filter cake’.
Backed by Innovate UK and in partnership with Teesside University, Scott Bros has installed a £1m low-carbon concrete plant that replaces up to 25% of Ordinary Portland Cement with the recycled filter cake, cutting carbon emissions. It is also developing prototype bricks from the same material and supporting research into its use for carbon capture, with trials suggesting it could sequester up to 1.6 million tonnes of CO₂ annually in the North East while enriching soil quality.
Fellow director, Bob Borthwick, added: “This is what the circular economy should look like, local businesses creating practical, scalable solutions that deliver environmental, economic and social benefits. We’re proud to be leading the way from right here on Teesside.”