In heavy foundry operations, large volumes of used casting sand are produced as moulds are broken down after metal casting. At Bradken’s Runcorn facility, this sand often contained steel offcuts, broken risers and casting remnants that were still valuable as recyclable metal. However, these fragments were difficult to separate once mixed through tonnes of sand. Traditional recovery methods relied on magnets or manual sorting, which could miss smaller pieces or slow the process. The foundry needed a more efficient way to recover steel scrap from spent casting sand without disrupting normal production or material handling.