The UK's largest recycling plant has been officially opened in Livingston.

Brewster Bros' new facility will treat and recycle construction and demolition waste as a resource, ensuring zero waste to landfill.

The plant, featuring a CDE state-of-the-art wet processing system, will provide waste management services and recycled aggregates to builders, construction companies, civil contractors, utility contractors and concrete product producers from its new high-tech facility in Scotland's central belt.

The recycling centre includes £3.8m of investment including high efficiency CDE equipment, with a capacity to recycle 400,000 tonnes of construction, demolition and excavation waste per year. The new facility supports the Scottish Government's Circular Economy Strategy 'Making Things Last', which aims to secure 70% recycling of construction and demolition waste by 2020.

The plant can process and recycle soils and rubble collected by Brewster Bros fleet of tipper lorries from construction sites into high value sand and gravel - reducing waste disposal costs for Brewster Bros' customers while maximising waste recovery. The wet processing system was specifically designed to process difficult construction and demolition waste materials and optimise material recovery.

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Scott Brewster, Director at Brewster Bros, said: "Through significant investment into state-of-the-art recycling techniques provided by the plant supplier CDE, we are looking forward to shaping the future of the recycling industry across Scotland and beyond. This new plant should act as a game-changer for the construction industry, by saving money for our customers and ensuring they can dispose of their construction and demolition waste in a cost-effective and sustainable way."

David Kinloch, CDE Regional Manager UK & Ireland, commented: "I am delighted to have had the opportunity to work with Brewster Bros to create a construction, demolition and excavation waste recycling plant bespoke, to their site and production requirements.

"This large-scale facility incorporates the latest CDE technology and will be a flagship project in Scotland. We wish Brewster Bros every success as they champion the move towards zero waste and embrace the circular economy and look forward to a continued strong partnership in the years to come."

Due to its Quality Management Systems, Brewster Bros is an accredited supplier of Zero Waste Scotland's Aggregate Quality Protocol Directory.

Stephen Boyle, Strategic Programme Manager for Construction, Zero Waste Scotland, added: "In Scotland the construction sector is responsible for producing nearly half of the country's waste, and recycling construction and demolition material has a key role to play in minimising that.

"By recycling, we can keep materials out of landfill and in high-value use for longer, reducing the need to quarry finite virgin material and helping the environment. But what the launch of the Brewster Bros recycling plant shows is that by recycling effectively we can also generate investment and create new jobs, which is great news for Scotland."

All recycled materials from the plant will come with a UKAS accredited quality certification and conform to the requirements for the BREEAM Sustainability Assessment Method for Construction.

An annual turnover of £3 million is expected at the plant, which will boost the local economy and provide further job opportunities on top of all 20 job roles retained from the previous owner.

(CM/MH)