Concrete is everywhere. In fact, it is the largest man-made material in quantity produced and also makes up a considerable portion of the world’s waste, even above metal, plastic and other nonbiodegradable materials. It is estimated roughly 25 billion tons of concrete are produced worldwide each year.
Rough estimates suggest concrete makes up about 50 percent of all construction and deconstruction (C&D)-generated waste, amounting to almost 25 percent of total solid waste across the country. With the immense pressure on available landfill space, especially in the Gulf Coast region, diverting this material is inevitably beneficial.
C&D materials have been recycled and reused for millennia. However, in our modern era, “recycling” has become a buzzword and semi-popular trend that might have eventually faded away, but no longer. Being “green” has become a way of life and a profitable one at that.
Although most people are aware of recycling and its many environmental and economic benefits, there are some forms of recycling that have only started becoming popular in recent years. Concrete recycling is one such form of recycling. Although it is a well-established industry in many areas, there is still a relatively low number of companies and municipalities taking advantage of the benefits of recycled materials.
To be used as an aggregate, recycled concrete aggregate (RCA) must be processed to remove as much foreign debris and reinforcing steel as possible. Processing generally involves crushing the concrete and screening it to various sizes. Reinforcing steel is removed during processing by magnetic separators. The resulting RCA is a high-quality, durable and sustainable product that can be used in multiple different applications.
In fact, RCA is a comparable alternative to freshly mined virgin materials such as limestone. The possibilities for use are also parallel and in some instances superior when used for road base and subbase. The most common use is in new road construction and parking lots. It can also be used as a bulkhead on land or in water as an erosion protection material, a gabion basket fill, or a granular aggregate for drainage projects and trench backfill.
Since natural resources are often sourced from nonlocal quarries and natural areas, the use of RCA creates job opportunities in the local area, yielding a product cheaper than virgin aggregate, especially where natural resources are scarce or nonexistent in a local economy. RCA is bid as an option in construction contracts for nonstructural concrete and base materials. The use of locally recycled aggregates makes projects more cost effective by reducing transportation expenses for companies in both the commercial and industrial sectors.
It should also be noted it is often cheaper to divert C&D waste concrete to a local recycling plant than to transport it to a local landfill because it reduces tipping fees, which can be as high as $100 per ton. These fees can be avoided altogether by using recycled aggregate, and some states have estimated savings upward of 60 percent. In fact, many companies will actually pay for the disposal of waste concrete at their recycling facilities as an incentive to help divert waste concrete to landfills.
The Texas Department of Transportation is a large consumer of RCA materials. However, private industry and municipalities consume well over 60 percent of the RCA currently produced in Texas. There is a growing number of industrial companies and facilities realizing the benefits of RCA as well. At facilities that may require waste concrete not to be removed from their properties, mobile recycling units can be used to crush old pavement on-site for immediate reuse or stockpiling.
The facts and figures are undeniably beneficial to both the environment and the local economy: Using RCA reduces the consumption and exploitation of natural aggregate, cuts the expenses of transporting materials not locally available and diverts concrete away from our landfills. We would all do well to support these initiatives to further develop awareness and applications of such a valuable sustainable material through aggregate recycling.
For more information, visit www.cherrycompanies.com or call (713) 987-0000.
