Operated by Robert, Andrea and Logan Smallmon since 1991, the Toowoomba-based business specialises in landscaping, earthmoving, bulk soil and water deliveries, and processes bulk material at its South St yard for resale.
Material for recycling is generally sourced from LWC’s own cartage contracts, with suitable material diverted to the recycling yard rather than being dumped.
The recycling process has evolved over the years, with the most recent change being the purchase of a REMU EP3150 screening bucket from Premier Rock Machinery in Brisbane.
The REMU bucket uses a rotary screening blade to size material, with the blade spacing determining the size of material.
LWC has its bucket set up to produce 18mm minus material, which places it in a niche for high-quality soils and gravels suitable for commercial use.
Initially LWC used a vibrating screen to process the soil, but the company says this had high maintenance costs and was replaced by a sieve bucket around 10 years ago.
The sieve bucket had grids welded to it to produce the required size of material. While it was more effective than the vibrating screen, it also had high maintenance costs and, like the screen, it struggled with sticky material.
Logan Smallmon says the REMU bucket is more robust than the sieve one and requires significantly less routine servicing – essentially daily greasing of pins and bushes and oiling the chain used to drive the rotor.
While output is reduced from 40-45 cubic metres per hour to around 30 cubic metres per hour when handling clay soils, Logan says, the Remu bucket has no problems in processing sticky soil.
In addition, its robust construction means that there are no breakage concerns if there is some rock in the soil.
The bucket is fitted to a 23-tonne Case CX210 excavator, and works for up to 40 hours per month in the low season, ramping up to around 60 hours per month when there is a greater supply of material for processing.
This combo means the REMU EP3150 screening bucket can be used for processing in the LWC yard or on site.
Aside from REMU screening buckets, Premier Rock Machinery handles Movax piling attachments, Montabert hammers and attachments, Rotar demolition attachments and Lehnhoff quick hitches.
