Sand reuse yields significant savings for foundry

MJ Allen provides ferrous and non ferrous castings in the UK and abroad. As for many cast metal producers, MJ Allen were incurring significant disposal costs for spent foundry sand from the metal casting process. While sand is recycled on site as far as possible, it eventually loses the properties required for moulds. NISP was contacted by MJ Allen’s site in Kent to look for alternative solutions for nearly 500 tonnes of sand being sent to landfill every year.

After suggesting several NISP members that could use the sand, it transpired that one, Hanson Aggregates were supplying virgin sand to the foundry. Hanson is one of the UK’s largest suppliers of construction materials, and often use recycled materials, so discussions began to investigate a take-back solution for the site.

The NISP team have facilitated foundry sand re-use in the construction industry with several members, nationwide and in the South East region. The waste sand is often suitable for use in asphalt, cement, bricks and pipe bedding. By facilitating discussions between MJ Allen and Hanson it became clear that by collecting the sand for use as a recycled aggregate, Hanson could make good use of a resource otherwise destined for landfill. Meanwhile, the arrangement would save MJ Allen cost and help them improve their environmental performance.

In order to enable sand collections, new pipework was required (see image), and the foundry were happy to invest the time and money in this infrastructure. Regular collections are now being made by Hanson who stockpile the material and process it for use in asphalt products. While there are many examples of foundry sand reuse in construction materials, the potential has not yet been fully realised in foundries across the South East region - and NISP are keen to spread the word!