Recycling Is Central to Aggregate, Concrete and Cement Sustainability Efforts.
By Terri Ward
This column is the start of a new media partnership between SEMCO publications Rock Products, Concrete Products and Cement Optimized, and our organization – the Construction & Demolition Recycling Association (CDRA) – that will highlight the important role recycling aggregate materials plays in the sustainability efforts of the natural aggregate, concrete and cement industries.
The Construction & Demolition Recycling Association is a 501c6 organization based in Chicago. 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.
Partnership Plans
And, as many know, Rock Products has covered the natural aggregate industry for more than 120 years. Concrete Products has covered the concrete industry for more than 80 years. Cement Optimized, under its previous incarnations Cement Americas and Cement Products, has covered the cement industry for 40 years.
The partnership means 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 it supports the sustainability of the aggregates industry. Much of the information will come from the CDRA’s newly formed Aggregates Recycling Committee, but also from other work the CDRA is doing in construction material recycling.
By weight, concrete is the most recycled material in North America and perhaps the world, and asphalt is close behind. According to the U.S. 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 companies, 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.
History
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 used 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 its work with the readers of SEMCO publications in the wider concrete and aggregate industries, as many of those readers are keenly interested in how recycling helps the industries’ sustainability credibility, as well as how to better operate their recycling businesses.
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 recycling has been going for so long, especially for concrete, is its economic viability.
Indeed, when aggregate recycling started to ramp up in North America in the 1980s, few major aggregate companies were supportive. Today all major aggregate producers are involved in recycling at some level, though most concrete recycling plants are still controlled by privately held companies.
Terri Ward is Executive Director/CEO of the Construction & Demolition Recycling Association. She can be reached at [email protected] for questions about CDRA membership or participation in its aggregates recycling committee.