View from the Top

The widespread crushing of concrete for on-site reuse or for offsite resale in construction and road building projects is a relatively new phenomenon, especially when compared to the re-melting of metals, which goes back to biblical times.

This comparatively new practice, however, has grown tremendously in the past 15 years. Asphalt surfacing is routinely recycled and re-used on site in highway and street applications, while crushed concrete can take one of several different paths.

Contractors have quickly become familiar with how to use recycled aggregates, and some of them (demolition contractors in particular) have even entered into the recycled aggregates business.

This sudden growth of aggregates recycling has offered opportunities for all involved, but has also caught researchers by surprise. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and others have attempted to determine just how widespread the practice is, with estimates ranging from 100 million to 300 million tons recycled annually.

The range of what is not yet known about the industry has made the exercise of identifying the 20 Largest Recycled Aggregates Producers in the U.S. a difficult one.

Defining which recycled aggregates processes should be considered presented the first challenge. For purposes of this list, the recycling of concrete was weighted more heavily, as this material involves not only road builders, but also the demolition segment. Figures for asphalt that is not recycled by specialized in-place paving machinery were included, as many concrete recycling firms also accept this material.

Identifying who is actually crushing the most material was the next challenge. Concrete crushing firms come from a variety of backgrounds, including paving materials companies, highway contractors, quarrying firms, demolition contractors and the entrepreneurs who have entered the business with the production of recycled aggregates as their main business focus.

Surveying these various industry segments to determine which are the largest and most active in their fields provided a first layer of research, followed then by making contact with the companies determined to be among the candidates.

Companies have very different policies concerning the disclosure of their business activities. Some are reluctant to provide information, and in some cases this probably led to their omission from the list.

Our intention in putting together a list like this is purely to recognize the most successful operators in this recycling segment. We hope that owners, managers and employees of companies that are on the list will consider it an honor. It takes hard work by a lot of people to put together winning bids, set up crushing plants, and produce marketable recycled aggregate products.

Managers and employees of these largest companies can be proud of the mountains (of debris) that they move. We hope that our recognition of these companies will be viewed as a way to honor leadership in an industry that can provide challenges with each new project that is put on the schedule.

The tons of materials these leading companies produce can fluctuate year-to-year, depending upon the number of large projects in which a company is involved in a given calendar year.

Most observers of the industry, however, believe the overall trend of recycled aggregates produced should continue upward, as a variety of factors help the market for recycled concrete and asphalt.

Quarries located near the center of metropolitan areas are heading toward extinction, meaning the cost to ship quarried aggregates into an urban center continues to increase.

The rising cost of truck fuel is a contributing factor in favor of concrete recycling in a number of ways. In addition to reducing the cost of bringing in new aggregate, crushing concrete on site (or at a nearby plant) and using it on site (or in a nearby application) can save the fuel costs associated with hauling the material away.

And the cheap disposal option that can provide an alternative to recycling concrete is also becoming rarer. The cost of fuel to haul away debris has increased, and in many parts of the country so has the cost of tipping concrete rubble into an inert landfill. Additionally, in some states (such as California and Massachusetts), mandatory landfill diversion or recycling laws are providing yet one more incentive to recycle generated building debris as opposed to landfilling.

Finally, the corporate and institutional customers that building contractors serve have increasingly added environmental responsibility to their agendas. Green building initiatives, exemplified by the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program, include incentives for contractors and their customers to recycle on site and to use recycled materials.

Companies that recycle concrete most assuredly have challenges. The commercial construction segment can be cyclical, and highway repair budgets are facing fiscal restraints. Zoning and regulatory matters can make life difficult for the most conscientious of concrete recyclers.

But it appears safe to say that the growth of concrete and asphalt recycling during the past 15 years is not a fluke spawned by Earth Day. The sound financial and operational reasons to recycle concrete and asphalt are proven and in place, and the competition encountered to be one of the 20 Largest Aggregates Recyclers in the U.S. should be even more substantial in 2005 and beyond.