A new media partnership between SEMCO Publishing magazines Rock Products, Concrete Products and Cement Optimized, and the Construction & Demolition Recycling Association (CDRA), will highlight the important role recycling aggregate materials plays in the sustainability of the natural aggregate, concrete and cement industries.
For more than 30 years the CDRA has promoted the recycling of construction materials, including concrete and asphalt. Indeed, the association was originally formed to serve aggregate recyclers. More than half its recycler members recycle aggregate on some scale, including many major natural aggregate producers.
John Thomas, CDRA president and managing partner, Waste & Recycling Solutions, says “Recycling aggregates is the bedrock of the construction material recycling industry, and we are delighted to be able to work with SEMCO to share progress on environmentally friendly disposal options for concrete and asphalt, and the role other recycled construction materials play in concrete and cement production.”
“For SEMCO this partnership makes perfect sense,” says Peter Johnson, president of SEMCO. “Our publications, all of which have been around for many decades, have always worked to show what is happening in our industry, and sustainability is an important issue. Working with CDRA, which promotes the recovery and reuse of the aggregate industries’ products and supports the use of recycled construction products into cement and concrete, will help our readers’ paths to reach their sustainability goals.”
A central part of the partnership is that CDRA will provide SEMCO publications regular updates, including articles and columns, on what is going on in recycling and recovery for concrete, asphalt and other construction materials, and how that supports the sustainability of the aggregates, concrete and cement industries. Much of the information will come from the CDRA’s Aggregate Recycling Committee, or from presentations at C&D World 2025, March 11-14 in Dallas.
By weight, concrete is the most recycled material in North America and perhaps the world, and asphalt is close behind. According to the EPA, which worked initially with the CDRA to measure this, more than 300 million tons of waste aggregate material are generated annually, while other research has estimated that at least 85% of that material is recycled into end products that replace virgin products. In today’s climate that is promoting concepts such as extended producer responsibility, this is a great example of how environmentally friendly aggregate-related industries are sustainable.
Another aspect of the appropriateness of this partnership is recycled construction materials’ role in cement production. Cement manufacturers, several of which are CDRA members, are always looking for ways to reduce the environmental impact of their product. Recycled construction materials such as asphalt shingles and drywall are used in many steps of the cement-making process, from fuel to in the kiln to using recycled gypsum into the finished product.
Modern aggregate recycling began in Germany at the end of WWII as a way to handle the mountains of rubble resulting from Allied bombing. It made no sense to haul the material away and bring in new rock, so material was processed and use locally as a base product. That same logic applies today as concrete and asphalt recycling centers are usually located closer to cities than quarries and landfills. However, today’s recycled aggregate products can be far more sophisticated than a simple base or 57 stone and are often produced by equipment modified to process concrete and asphalt rather than natural aggregate.
These end products and equipment are the focus of the CDRA’s Aggregates Recycling Committee as the association looks to expand its support of recycled aggregates. The media partnership will allow CDRA to share with the readers of SEMCO publications in the wider concrete and aggregate industries its work as many of those readers are keenly interested in how recycling helps the industries’ sustainability credibility, and are also interested in how to better operate their recycling operations
Fortunately, an added benefit to the recycling of construction materials is the economic benefit. CDRA has research showing the environmental benefits of recycling construction materials, but one reason this recycling has been going for so long, especially for concrete, is it is very economically viable. Indeed, when aggregate recycling started to amp up in North America in the 1980s, almost all the major aggregate companies were not supportive. Today all major aggregate producers are involved in recycling at some level, though the majority of concrete recycling plants are still controlled by privately held companies.
The Construction & Demolition Recycling Association is a 501c6 organization based in Chicago. The CDRA promotes and defends the environmentally sound recycling of the more than 600 million tons of recoverable construction and demolition (C&D) materials generated in the United States annually. These materials include concrete, gypsum drywall, asphalt pavement, wood, shingles, and more. For more information, go to www.cdrecycling.org.
SEMCO Publishing is based in Denver, and publishes five magazines, including two international publications, while organizing several industry related trade shows. For more information, go to www.semcopublishing.com.