West Midlands based Weir Waste Services Ltd commission Kiverco to design, manufacture and install one of the largest automated Commercial and Industrial waste recovery facilities in the UK.

West Midlands based Recycling and Waste Management specialists Weir Waste Services Ltd are one of the largest independently owned operators in the Midlands and Warwickshire area of the United Kingdom. As part of the company’s long term growth strategy to maximise recovery of recyclables from waste, in accordance with the Waste Hierarchy, they decided to develop a state of the art Materials Recovery Facility at their Trinity Street site in Oldbury. 

Having purchased three previous Kiverco plants, supplied through Blue Southern, Weir Waste recognised the high standard of workmanship and professional service offered by the company who were awarded the contract to deliver on this project.

Partnership design
The brief was to design an automated C&I MRF with the capability to process in excess of 25 tonnes per hour in the most efficient manner possible whilst maximising the recovery and purity of the recyclables.

For Kiverco, it was important during the preliminary discussions, to understand the current and long term objectives of Weir Waste. Other factors considered included input waste streams, output specification and purity requirements, throughput, site requirements, budget, technology, health & safety, environmental and legislative requirements. Once this information was gathered Kiverco were able to present a tailored solution to meet the specific needs of Weir Waste.

Material Feedstock
The input feedstock was mainly Commercial and Industrial Waste but also consisted of some Construction & Demolition and Green Waste.

For Weir it was critical that flexibility was built into the system so that the plant could easily adapt to changes in waste streams and still maintain performance over time.
Modular design and class leading technology for flexibility into the future
Kiverco MRFs are designed in modular form so that clients can diversify, expand, relocate, recondition or retrofit as market conditions dictate, thus ‘future proofing’ the investment. Kiverco designers have undertaken many complex expansions to existing 3rd party equipment. In addition to modular design, Kiverco sections are designed for ease of maintenance and quick change of wear parts, to ensure planned downtime is kept to a minimum.

With this element of the design taken care of Kiverco recommended that Weir integrate the latest Autosort 4 with flying beam technology from our technology partners Titech.

Reducing risk through testing before investing.
It was important for Kiverco to make sure the client was 100% confident that the proposed facility was going to deliver the expected results. By testing the material in advance, the client was able to reduce their risk from the start, giving them security that the facility would operate to the desired standards in advance of any large capital investment being made.

Testing of the current feedstock was arranged at Titech’s test facility in Germany. The sample material was fed through a ballistic separator to separate the 2D and 3D fractions. From here a series of Autosort 4 units split the fractions into film, paper, cardboard, wood, PE and PET. The sample test results gave a recovery rate of 83% and a purity rate of 95%.

Kiverco offer testing across a range of technologies including optical sorting, ballistic separation, flip flow and trommel screening, magnetic and air separation.
Based on the material test results from Germany Kiverco created a process flow chart highlighting the expected hourly throughputs for each fraction. 

From concept to virtual then reality
In parallel to the material testing at Titech the engineering design team at Kiverco produced a virtual reality process flow animation. This presented Weir Waste and all of their stakeholders with a clear visual overview of how each fraction of waste material was going to flow through the process from reception to despatch. Kiverco offer detailed process flow animations for clients wishing to present project proposals to investors and municipalities or for internal training and showcasing.

SCADA Control Room
Another requirement from Weir Waste was the flexibility to start each section of the MRF either in sequence or individually as required for testing and inspection during planned downtime. A SCADA based control system was recommended for this purpose and also to allow for precise internal and remote monitoring of plant performance. Planned downtime and service plans could also be incorporated into the system to ensure the MRF operates to its optimum level at all times. A belt weighing system and energy meter were also fitted to allow Weir to monitor plant throughput and energy levels.
Working within clearly defined building parameters the MRF was designed using the latest 3D modelling software by Kiverco’s in-house design team. The system had to be built to operate within a minimum footprint.

At our UK manufacturing facility each section of the MRF went through a strict quality control inspection process to ensure the plant both adhered to all relevant European standards and also specific requirements as requested by the client. Finally each section of the plant was trial assembled and then fully function tested at the factory before despatch. This was to ensure the MRF would run effectively from day one. This is a standard element of the Kiverco approach and also helps to minimise problems when the plant is being erected.

‘Right first time’ installation & commissioning
The overall project plan scheduled 12 weeks for installation and commissioning. This was broken into three phases. Working methodically with the minimum number of people the site team installed and commissioned the MRF exactly as planned, in sequence, on time, within budget and in conformance to all CDM regulations. After a dry and wet commissioning period of 2 weeks the plant was ready for testing throughput, recovery and purity.

The Result
Commenting on the new MRF facility, Managing Director Daniel Weir said “After all the hard work behind the scenes planning and researching this project, we are delighted to finally see the facility come together and be operational. Blue Southern and the team from Kiverco who managed the design and installation deserve a lot of credit for their constant advice and professional workmanship throughout. They worked tirelessly and the plant has come together like clockwork” On the performance of the new facility, Mr. Weir added, “We are delighted to say that results of initial tests have exceeded our expectations. The tonnage test results in particular have been fantastic and the purity of the recovered materials really is exceptional.”

Output Fractions
Kiverco sales director John Lines was also delighted with the overall success of the project, commenting “The Trinity Street MRF is the first of its kind for Kiverco and demonstrates our ability to deliver a project on this scale and one which has exceeded our client’s expectations.

Our expertise in design and manufacture, our ability to offer materials testing and to effectively partner with leading technology partners such as Titech and Hartner have all been demonstrated through this contract. We believe the Trinity Street MRF presents a convincing case to MRF operators everywhere that you can achieve, and indeed should expect, a high performance, high quality plant with built in flexibility and leading after sales care for much less than you might think.”

Ongoing Lifecycle Care to ease the running of the MRF
With the MRF now fully operational Weir Waste can avail of Kiverco’s extensive range of customer care and support packages. These include factory direct hotline support; full ‘on the road’ service backup; operator training, planned and preventative maintenance packages, spare and wear parts delivery and fitting.

Key Facts:
Company: Weir Waste Recycling Services
Location: Birmingham, United Kingdom
Waste Type: Commercial and Industrial Waste Material Recovery Facility
Throughput: 25TPH
Staff Employed: 13
Technology: 1 x Doppstadt Pre-Shredder
1 x Kiverco KL850 Trommel
Overband and Eddy Current Magnetic Separators
2 x Hartner Ballistic Separators
8 x Titech Autosort 4 Optical Sorters
Control Room c/w SCADA system, belt weigh & energy monitor, A/C

The project was part funded by ERDF (European Regional Development Fund) and managed by WRAP (Waste and Resources Action Plan).