Special Terex-Atlas loader fills recycling role

Stonegrave Aggregates, part of the Durham-based John Wade Group, has installed a new specially-configured Terex-Atlas loader at its fast-expanding recycling facility at Aycliffe Quarry, near Darlington in county Durham.


The new 17 tonne Atlas 1705MI machine is a mixed-specification “hybrid”, utilising the base of a standard Atlas 1705 mobile (wheeled) excavator, with the elevating cab and controls of a conventional Atlas “MI” handling machine. The reason for this hybridisation is to provide a machine with the highest possible multi-role versatility.

With its short, conventional boom and stick arrangement, this special 1705MI has the compactness to be able to operate inside the large, busy reception/sorting shed, where reach and height are not the prime requirements. It also has the inherent strength and robustness of a conventional excavator to be able to operate with a variety of front-end equipment for other re-handling, loading and even digging duties. The loader is equipped with a generator for magnet operation, and auxiliary hydraulics for other attachments, which can all be changed quickly and easily with a hydraulic quick-attach facility.

“This is a very busy, expanding, self-contained recycling facility, one of the biggest in the North-East”, says Bruce Whitley, Operations Manager.

“Terex were very helpful in shaping the specification of this special Atlas loader. It is now the key machine for sorting the main bulk of incoming material, and provides a high capacity throughput onto the main shredder. But in addition, it can be switched to other duties for loading different materials, using the appropriate attachments, such as magnet, grabs, or buckets – for handling metals, loose materials, from aggregates to wood chips, and large logs. Even the front blade, chosen specifically in place of the more usual outriggers, is used for cleaning up in the yard.”

Stonegrave’s Aycliffe recycling facility, situated alongside the A1M, is adjacent to the existing Aycliffe Quarry, which itself produces some 50-75,000 tonnes per month of crushed aggregates for the local construction industry – with a further 10,000 tonnes per month of recycled crushed aggregate material being recovered from incoming waste. The total intake of mixed waste material for recycling is between 15-20,000 tonnes per month, of which some 70-75% is sorted, extracted and re-used. With a convenient landfill site on the worked-out part of the adjoining quarry, there is no need for further road transportation to dispose of residual waste, resulting in a highly efficient, self-contained recycling facility.

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