Construction and demolition waste in theU.S. is approximately 135 million tons annually, or about 3 lbs/person/day.Recyclable materials can be recycled at the end of their useful
According to the American Concrete PavementAssociation:
Recycling of concrete pavement is arelatively simple process. It involves breaking, removing and crushing concretefrom an existing pavement into a material with a specified size and quality.
Crushed concrete may be reused as anaggregate in new Portland cement concrete or any other structural layer.Generally it is combined with a virgin aggregate when used in new concrete.However, recycled concrete is more often used as aggregate in a sub-base layer.
Several advances have made recycling moreeconomical for all types of concrete pavements in recent years. These include:
Development of equipment for breakingconcrete pavements be they plain, mesh-and-dowel or continuously reinforced.
Development of methods to remove steel thatminimizes hand labor.
Use and application of crushing equipmentthat can accommodate steel reinforcement.
There are no restrictions on the types ofconcrete pavements that can be recycled. Successful and economical recyclingprojects have included jointed plain pavement, jointed reinforced pavement,continuously reinforced pavement and even airport pavement over 17 inchesthick.
Arrangements can be made to haul concretefrom a demolition site to the recycling plant, or, in some cases, recyclers areable to move portable recycling machinery to the plant site.
life as a building, pavement, or otherstructure reducing the amount of material that is landfilled and reducing theneed for virgin materials in new construction.
Concrete recycling is becoming anincreasingly popular way to utilize aggregate left behind when structures orroadways are demolished. In the past, this rubble was disposed of in landfills,but with more attention being paid to environmental concerns, concreterecycling allows reuse of the rubble while also keeping construction costsdown.
After material is processed crushedroadbase, aggregates and sands are sold for use by local councils, governmentdepartments, civil contractors, builders, paving contractors, plumbers andlandscapers for a wide variety of uses throughout the building and constructionindustry, for example, over three hundred thousand tonnes of roadbases went tothe Sydney Olympic Centre at Homebush. Besides being environmentally friendly,our products are more cost effective than natural quarried products, thuslowering the cost of construction. To find out what materials will best suityour needs please go the Products section of this website.
