SUSTAINABILITY
RECYCLED AGGREGATES SEE THE
Day Group is bringing a recycled aggregates brand to the merchant market, as Fiona Russell Horne finds out.
A
s the industry shifts ever more towards environmentally responsible materials, aggregates supplier Day Aggregates is taking its Ecoblend brand, currently more widely sold in the bulk market, to the packed market via builders’ merchants.
Day Aggregates’ flagship product, Ecoblend MA is designed for a multitude of applications, including sub-base construction and road capping, and represents a modern, sustainable aggregate for Type 1 and 6F5 applications. Blending refined IBA aggregate with natural crushed stone achieves high performance at a lower cost while reducing environmental impact. The use of recycled aggregates diverts waste from landfills but also significantly cuts CO2 emissions. According to the company, every tonne of Ecoblend MA purchased saves 231 black bin bags of waste from landfill, and reduces the need to quarry finite primary aggregate.
Adam Day, director responsible for recycling, contracting and equestrian products, says that the company produces around 1.1m tonnes a year of recycled aggregates which it sells into the construction market. “One of the barriers to take up of more recycled products so far is the expectation that if something is recycled then it might have other elements in it, not contamination as such, but elements that look slightly different because they aren’t pure quarried aggregate – or what we call primary product.”
He adds however, that there has been a change, often driven by merchants themselves who have ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) policies they need to adhere to. “Merchants are starting to look more closely at what they are buying and passing onto their
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important that, as we go on this journey, we do so openly and together with our merchant customers, because they are ones on the front line who will be getting feedback from their customers.”
customers. They are asking themselves if there is an alternative to primary product they should be looking at.”
Day says that, with increasing interest from merchant customers, the time is right to make Ecoblend available in a merchant package. “There is something of a cultural change happening. We are starting with a certain percentage of recycled product – 10% - and will build that up as the market progresses.” The Ecoblend technology and recipe has been developed over a number of years, Day says. “The recycled product will meet a standard in its own right, so we could have just gone with a 100% recycled product but we don’t think that’s the way to grow the market. We do feel that the way to go about it is smaller steps. Initially, we will have a product that is 10% recycled aggregate. With the capital investment we have made into our infrastructure to allow us to blend in different ratios, over a period of time we will be able to up that 10%, depending on the product line, to 50% or over. There is an element of cultural change that we need; in time customers will be more accepting of a larger percentage of recycled products. We’re not making any dramatic scientific advancements, it’s more about changing customer perceptions. As we are one step back in the process, it’s
Under the Ecoblend brand there will be Type 1 sub-base product, which is stone that’s used under paving and carparks, and also product for concrete ballast. “They are the two main markets for us at the beginning, then after that would be the sharp sand, then mortar which would be step three, as that’s more complex, being a market that is very colour driven,” he explains.
Generally, recycled aggregate isn’t as dense as the quarried stone, which means it goes further, offering greater square meterage per tonne bag. Day says that the Materials Calculator on the Ecoblend website allows customers to work out how many 1 tonne bags they will need compared with primary product. “The fact that you get more square metreage for your buck gives another advantage, although in these early days that is less obvious as the percentage of recycled product is only 10%, as opposed to the 50/50 split in the bulk sector.”
He adds that, in essence, the Ecoblend range will offer substantial cost-savings compared to traditional primary aggregates, and, from an environmental standpoint, it diverts waste from landfill, reduces CO2 emissions, and conserves precious natural resources because it uses materials that have already been used. BMJ
LIGHT OF DAY
www.buildersmerchantsjournal.net March 2025
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