On-Site Recycling Introduction

When we go to site we normally take down structures which are existing old buildings which have sometimes 100 tonnes sometimes 400 tonnes of masonry which could be clay bricks, thermolite blocks, high grade clean concrete slabs and foundations.

What we tend to do is separate the materials and often crush the different products into different sizes to make the final products were are looking for. Generally speaking we recycle and make products to reuse on a building project which is replacing the building that we are taking down. We can make concreted ballast, drainage for soakaways and land drains.

We have got an Italian hydraulic mixing head which goes on the 8 tonne excavator and with fresh cement and clean water it will make up to a C25 pre-mix concrete so we can process and turn old concrete back to new fresh wet concrete which we can use for foundations for deep fill trenches and we can make all the general lean mix concretes that you use to put roads and curbs in a drain cover , fencing, gate posts and also landscaping when you do paths and patios and shed bases. We can make a recycled Type 1 for driveways and roads and we can make a large single size 6 Set 2 product which is a core single sized stone for deep, heavy load roads. We can also make drain cut material like a single sized 10mm pea shingle.

Also we have screening buckets that will screen top soil and it will take stones, flints, twigs and even grass roots out of soil and leave you with piles of clean 0-20mm soil. Clean top soil general speaking has a higher value than recycled aggregates. The recycling buckets will even separate fresh excavated grass from the fine soil that lives in the roots so you can win back lots and lots of good soil which you would otherwise be taking off site.

In terms of costings, generally it is about £10 a tonne to get rid of soil and at least £15 a tonne to buy decent topsoil back in, so you are looking at some £25 a tonne minimum for the cost of taking it away and putting it back in. Our screening buckets will process 10-15 tonnes an hour so the savings are absolutely enormous.

When you work in the winter the ground is soft and by carrying out on site recycling you can save large lorries having to get on site, if they can get in. We do work in lots of restricted, sensitive areas where lorries can't physically get in and the Councils don't really want them in anyway and when we recycle on site everything stays on site which gives you total control over what you do, when you do it and it probably leads to a much quicker turnaround of getting the building down and new groundwork done ready to start with taking the walls up out of the ground.

It is certainly a great assistance to have a crusher on site in winter so you can recycle materials to put some hard standing. Generally speaking we have an ever increasing range of customers who once they have had us on site to carry out all the services that we do, look at the sums and we have lots of repeat business which tells you that they are saving money and are happy.