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Ways to Recycle & Reuse Concrete

It’s amazing how many things can be recycled these days – plastic, metal, glass, food waste, batteries – the list is almost endless. But did you know that concrete can be recycled as well?

Concrete is the world’s second most consumed material – after water – and waste concrete is created on just about every construction and demolition project. Thankfully, these days we don’t have to send it all to landfill.



So let’s find out what you need to do with old concrete to make it useful and what we can use it for.

The first thing you need to do is crush the old pieces of concrete into smaller pieces. You do that by feeding the large pieces of concrete into a heavy-duty concrete crusher, like the one used at Neil Sullivan & Sons. 

You can adjust settings on your concrete crusher to produce smaller or larger pieces depending on what you want to use it for.

In either case, things that might be embedded in the concrete need to be removed first, such as wood, bits of metal and plaster, among others.

What can recycled concrete be used for?

Once the concrete has been crushed down and any contaminants or other unwanted particles removed, it can be used like any other aggregate.

Among the many possible uses for recycled concrete are:

  • As an aggregate for mixing new concrete
  • Road building
  • Drainage
  • As the foundation for a breakwater to prevent erosion on sea and river banks
  • And as a foundation for underground trenches containing utility lines

In all these cases, using recycled concrete is both an environmentally-friendly and very cost effective alternative to using new gravel or other aggregates.

At Neil Sullivan & Sons Ltd, we now offer concrete crushing services around East Anglia and East London, including Basildon, Chelmsford and Southend. Get in touch with us now to find out more.