Council recycles stone grit for reuse in towns and villages

STONE grit is being recycled by Carmarthenshire County Council to be reused in towns and villages across the county.

Approximately 300 tonnes of stone grit has been recycled from last year.

Chief Executive Mark James said: “With demand so high this good recycling practice has helped us top up supplies enabling our hard working teams to keep our town centres open for business in these extremes of weather.”

The chippings were collected from the town centres and re-mixed with some white salt and stockpiled for re-use.

It is being used to treat roads and footways in towns and villages as well as in the pedestrianised areas in town centres.

The move helps the council’s salt stocks go further.

Executive board member for the environment Councillor Philip Hughes said: “This is extremely good practice, not only will it help to keep our towns and villages safe for pedestrians during the icy weather, but it will continue to provide a valuable resource for future use.”
Carmarthenshire has 3,531km of roads and approximately 28 per cent are treated when weather conditions demand. Around 996km are salted within three hours of forecasted ice or snow.
Trunk and principal routes are given priority; this includes roads leading to hospitals, ambulance stations, fire stations, railway stations, bus garages, important bus routes, slip roads and known trouble spots. Secondary priority is given to shopping areas having high footfall, other trouble and accident spots and other bus routes.
Staff are also on standby 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week to respond to the changing weather and road conditions.
Councillor Hughes said: “We do everything we can to keep our county safe during the winter months.”