REUSING the gravel scraped off road surfaces during repaving work could save taxpayers more than £1m over the next five years.

Worcestershire County Council highways department and highways maintenance contractor Ringways want to set up waste recycling works at the highways depot in Hartlebury, near Kidderminster, so it can reuse old aggregate.

Up to now it has been cheaper to tip it into landfill sites and buy new materials when repairing road, but newly introduced taxes on landfill and buying freshly quarried aggregates is making that less economical.

Nick Thwaite, the county council's acting road maintenance contract manager, said: "There is a lot of construction waste. Most of what we take out like kerbs and footways is fine and if we can use it in other ways it can make a very good material.

"Up to now it has been cheaper to take it to the tip than reuse it. But because of the drive to recycle and the tax on landfill and new material from quarries it is becoming more economic to recycle.

"Although many of us have been interested in recycling for a long time, we have to show it provides the best value for

the people of Worcestershire."

Mr Thwaite added that the process also saved an enormous amount of energy compared with blasting stone from a quarry and turning it into aggregate and macadam using hot bitumen.

he added: "When we have this facility up and running we will have to use some new material. The top surface will always be new but we are trying to be as self sufficient as we can. We are looking to drive all the costs down. It has the potential to save well over £1m over five years."

The project entails an investment of about £1m by Ringway, which will have to buy two large pieces of plant - which it can use on other contracts - as well as making a number of improvements to the Hartlebury highways depot.

The company has applied for a Government Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) grant and is hopeful that it will be given the money.

Steve Jenkins, Ringway operations manager, said: "We are 99 per cent certain we are going to get 20 per cent of the initial costs through the grant. The WRAP is reviewing it with a view to giving us the maximum grant of 30 per cent."

If the highways department obtains planning permission from the county council to improve the Hartlebury depot, the recycling facility could be operating by March.