ConExpo 2005: Cost Effective

Resistance to recycling old sections of highway back into material that can be used in new roadways does not stand up to logic, according to J. Don Brock, chairman of Astec Industries, Chattanooga, Tenn.

“It’s the same age, whether it’s been in a rock quarry or in a road,” the corporate chairman declared at a seminar on asphalt and concrete recycling held at the 2005 ConExpo-Con/Agg event.

Brock advised attendees in the paving and highway engineering fields not to look at recycled aggregates as a second-hand product, and touted advantages that both recycled concrete and recycled asphalt can offer.

The rise in oil prices has changed the way a number of business managers think and operate in the past two years, and pavement contractors are no exception.

On the job site, hauling material in and hauling it away has become more expensive as fuel prices rise, providing a clear reason to consider on-site crushing and re-use of old highway sections.

Brock provided several examples of formulas demonstrating how the use of recycled materials is cost effective for highway contractors, particularly when hauling costs can be subtracted.

In the asphalt sector, the rising price of oil has provided double the incentive since recycled asphalt pavement includes some of the oil additive that otherwise would have to be purchased at escalating costs.

That oil additive was once considered “a residue that oil companies used to give away,” Brock commented. But those days are long gone, he stressed, and now any oil that can be recovered from recycled asphalt presents a tremendous opportunity.

In the asphalt paving sector, “Recycled products are worth what they replace plus any disposal fee [and] minus the processing cost required to get the material into the hot mix asphalt plant,” Brock told attendees.

In terms of quality concerns, Brock remarked that advances in processing and screening equipment have dramatically improved the ability of recycled materials to meet a specification. “We can now make a better recycled concrete aggregate product with segregated sizes.”

The chairman of the multi-national crushing and paving equipment company came out forcefully in favor of recycling by stating to attendees, “There is not any equipment we can sell you that could save you as much money as using recycled materials.”