A STATE-of-the-art aggregate washing plant has opened in Eversley.

It is owned by demolition, waste and haulage management company R Collard, which celebrates its 20 th anniversary this year.

Situated at Bramshall Quarry, it incorporates the very latest technology to enhance the quality and efficiency of the recycling of construction and civil engineering wastes.

The £2.5 million facility will provide a local source of recycled aggregate products to enhance the efficiency and environmental performance of regional construction and civil engineering developments across the South.

Projects that will be using materials from R Collard include the M3 Smart Motorway project and the M4 widening scheme.

Delighted with the new equipment, Rob Collard, who is a well known as a British Touring Car Championship racer, said he was delighted with the equipment.

Installed in just six weeks, it contains the latest generation of washing systems and has an annual production capacity of 250,000 tonnes.

“We have just invested £2.5million and its taken two-and-half years in the planning process to make it happen, so I’m very pleased to see it working today,” said Mr Collard.

“My main line of business is demolition and waste recycling with skip hire.

“The material we knock down from demolition sites we transfer here where we crush it down so it’s in big large formats of maybe one or two tonnes of concrete.

“We then crush it down to a 30 to 40 mm diameter material and then put it through a wash plant, putting it back to virtually how it was when it initially came of out the from quarrying in its previous life – we are putting it back to when it was gravel.

“The plant is producing some lovely washed aggregate and we have customers who are willing to take away the material immediately.

“We’ve had people like Balfour Beatty, Costains, and Wates and we have had general builders who are looking to buy an alternative cheaper aggregate than they would normally buy.

“Because it’s recycled it doesn’t have the aggregate tax so it gives the builders an alternative.

“If they are building a conservatory base or a foundation for a small garage, they can come and buy our cheaper aggregates and it’s a saving which is passed onto the customer.

“With Balfour Beatty – we are supplying them material for the M3 motorway.

“It won’t be put under the actual carriageway, but it will be used for drainage on the side of the hard shoulders and places like that.”

Special guest was Aldershot MP Gerald Howarth who cut a ribbon officially opening the plant.

Describing the facility as fantastic and exciting, Mr Howarth said: “I think it demonstrates the power of the private sector to take the initiative.”