Having old or excessive concrete on a project site can delay the completion of those projects. Most people think that either working around it or disposing of it are the only options. However, trying to work with old concrete can lead to disasters and disposing of it harms both your budget and the environment. Fortunately, there is a third option that involves recycled aggregate.
Why Recycle Concrete?
The U.S. Federal Highway Administration promotes the use of the recycled cement for new roadways. It allows for the reuse of the old concrete to use in mixing and creating new concrete.
What’s the Process of Recycling Concrete?
Recycling concrete is a process of breaking, removing and crushing it from its current location. It is then re-created to be good as new. It is often the best option for concrete removal. Even just a slab of concrete doesn’t make any difference all recycled concrete is aggregated for using subbase material. It can also be paired with new and pure materials.
Concrete to be recycled is collected at a demolition yard and placed into a crushing machine. It must be free of any debris such as trash, wood, and paper. Chunks are sorted by their size and larger ones sometimes need to go through the crusher a second time. After the crushing, it is filtered out by water floatation or hand-picking.
The aggregated concrete turns out course and fine and is used as a fill material. When it is cleaned, it’s easily comparable to the brand-new material.
Uses of Recycled Aggregate:
– Building the base of a road. The underlying layer forms a structural foundation for paving.
– Ready mix concrete. This is a mix of water, sand and cement. It can substitute for the brand-new aggregate. This includes uses for walkways, residential streets and concrete paving.
– Stabilizing the soil. This combines the recycled concrete with lime or fly ash ash used to enhance the load.
– Pipe bedding. This is for stable bedding or a firm foundation for the underground utilities.
– Landscape material. Concrete rubble can be used as an attractive support for architectural texture and color. Or as erosion structures, water features, boulder/stacked rock walls, etc.
For more information about recycling concrete and onsite aggregate crushing services, please contact ReAgg.
