Durability is Key for Waste Management Group

Alpha Resource Management’s Mullaghglass Landfill in Lisburn receives household waste from homes across Northern Ireland, with up to 200 vehicles per day dropping off waste 6 days per week.

It’s imperative Alpha Resource Management know exactly how much waste is deposited into their landfill site to allow them to charge the correct amount for waste disposal. With Landfill Tax currently charged at £88.95 a tonne (increasing to £91.35 from April 1st, 2019), any weight errors could cause a significant financial loss for the company.

To manage this process, every lorry depositing waste at the site must pass over both an inbound and an outbound weighbridge. Two weight readings are taken (rather than a tare weight) to ensure the exact amount of Landfill Tax is being paid to HMRC.

Originally a quarry, the Lisburn site has been operating as a landfill since 2006. Alpha Resource Management required a robust weighbridge solution that would last over 20 years, despite the harsh conditions the weighbridges would be subjected to, with millions of tonnes of waste passing over the weighbridges over their lifetime.

Both the Avery Weigh-Tronix J102 weighbridges at the Lisburn site have surface mounted concrete decks that can endure constant heavy loads, and clever design features including bumper bolts, that prevent excess scale movements if a lorry drives on too fast, for increased durability.

The weighbridge solution also includes an Avery Weigh-Tronix traffic management system to ensure if one weighbridge breaks down, the alternative bridge can be used for both inbound and outbound readings.

The weighbridges are supported by specialist software, Weighman 8, which was developed by Avery Weigh-Tronix specifically for the waste management industry. The software is used to weigh vehicles in and out of the site, run data analysis reports and assist in invoicing and Landfill Tax.

The Site Manager at the Mullaghglass Landfill values the support of the Avery Weigh-Tronix Ireland team:

“We have a great relationship with Avery Weigh-Tronix Ireland, particularly with the Service Manager, Ronnie Fleming. He fully understands the nature of our business and how critical the weighbridges are to our operations. If we ever have a problem he’ll have the service team out to us on the same day, or at the very latest the following morning.”