Recycle waste (and facilitate recycling)

9.3 Recycle waste (and facilitate recycling)

Simple recycling demolition and construction waste may restrict the product to low grade applications.
Higher levels of processing may increases the environmental impact but allow for a higher grade application.

For example:

Low grade use of demolition material.
On-site rough crushing and possibly screening of demolition material to produce a material which is suitable for:

• On site fill.
• Landfill engineering.

Low level processing does not necessarily use waste materials efficiently and may sometimes be used as a cheap form of disposal.

High grade use of demolition material.
Higher grade use involves the on-site crushing of segregated material, such as concrete, into a graded higher value building product suitable as a substitute for primary aggregate used in for example:

• Road building.
• Concrete.

Examples of high grade recycling for other materials, include:

• Chipping waste timber to manufacture chipboard.
• Recycled plastics.
• Recycled glass.
• Soil screening to produce topsoil.
• Recycled bitumen.

Useful links for guidance are;-