Maintaining cleanliness at compost facility
August 1st 2005

When Viridor opened its new invessel composting facility at its Heathfield site in Kingsteignton, Devon in 2004, it put cleanliness at the top of its list of priorities.

Looking for a brush system that would keep the plant’s 2500 square metres of concrete floors clean, it decided on Broadwood’s SweepEx modular brush system.

The new composting facility processes approximately 25 000 tonnes of biodegradable waste from domestic kitchens and gardens, which is then recycles into compost for use in agriculture, horticulture, landscaping, mineral and landfill restoration. With a constant stream of vehicles bringing waste from kerbside collections it is important to keep the facility swept.

Looking at a number of options including mechanical sweepers, area manager, Mike Swiss decided on the Broadwood SweepEx. “The SweepEx was recommended to us by another waste management site, but we did look at other options”, says Mike Swiss. “However, the Sweepex not only proved more cost effective than mechanical sweepers but also has no moving parts so there is nothing to go wrong”.

The Broadwood SweepEx is attached to the forks of a telehandlers and is used first thing in the morning to sweep the floors.

Sweeping takes around one and a half hours and ensures that the plant meets health & safety requirements by preventing particles being blown into the surrounding areas.

“The SweepEx is a great asset around the site”, concluded Mike Swiss. “It does exactly what it is supposed to do and I can honestly say I do not know what we would do without it”.

The recycling scheme is the result of the Devon Composting Partnership, which comprises of Devon County Council, Mid Devon District Council, South Hams District Council, Teinbridge District Council and Viridor Waste Management. It is one of the most comprehensive kerbside collection services in Devon recycling over 40% of Devon’s waste.

The SweepEx compact design allows a powerful sweeping action both forwards and backwards allowing rapid, efficient and economical sweeping of large areas. The system is able to withstand the severest environments as the broom heads and mounting hardware are manufactured from industrial strength steel, with heavy-duty powder coat finish. The easily and quickly replaceable hi-grade polypropylene brush section has rows of 30cm bristles for effective sweeping. Very robust, the brushes will provide around 450 miles of sweeping before they need changing.

SweepEx is available from exclusive UK and European distributor, Broadwood International via its appointed agents. It is capable of handling all commercial and industrial sweeping applications both inside and out.

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