C&D News

SURVEY SAYS

Concrete/asphalt recyclers recovered as much as 140 million tons of concrete and at least 15 million tons of asphalt in 2005, according to a survey of Construction Materials Recycling Association (CMRA) members, making concrete the most recycled material in North America by weight among those surveyed. The CMRA data does not include highway millings and contractor’s specific full-depth removal project work.

In addition, it was estimated that the approximately 250 mixed construction and demolition recycling plants in the United States annually recover 28 million tons of materials.

The CMRA survey also finds equally impressive recycling rates for the two types of recyclers. Concrete/asphalt recycling plants recycle 99 percent of what they take in, and mixed C&D recycling plants are recovering 71 percent of their C&D feedstock, according to the survey.

"This report shows that, by weight, concrete is the most recycled material in the country [among our members], and the 99 percent recycling rate shows the efficiency of those plants processing it," says William Turley, executive director of the CMRA and associate publisher of Recycling Today’s sister publication Construction & Demolition Recycling. "And equally impressive is that the operators of mixed C&D plants are able to recover 28 million tons from what is basically the residuals of what construction and demolition contractors generate."

The survey was sent to all CMRA recycling members and 950 other C&D recyclers. Twenty-eight percent of the members responded. CMRA member Gershman, Brickner & Bratton Inc. compiled the data and combined it with its own information on the size of the C&D industry to provide the estimate of how many tons of C&D were recycled and to determine the recycling rates for the two segments.

The CMRA study concluded that 155 million tons of recycled aggregates are produced by the C&D recycling industry every year. This includes an estimated 130 million to 140 million tons of concrete and 15 million to 25 million tons of asphalt. The latter numbers are not the total annual numbers of asphalt recycled, which is projected to be 90 million tons, according to the National Asphalt Pavement Association. Additional findings from the CMRA survey are available at www.RecyclingToday.com.

The New Hampshire House of Representatives has voted to extend a ban on the use of construction and demolition debris as boiler fuel, according to a report in the Union Leader (Manchester, N.H.).

Without the passage of House Bill 1433, the current moratorium on C&D burning as fuel would expire July 1, 2006. The ban was put in place to allow a study on the potential danger of burning the material.

According to the report, New Hampshire took in approximately 640,000 tons of C&D debris in 2004, about a third of it from other states.