Concrete/Asphalt Recycling Receives CMRA Attention

The Construction Materials Recycling Association (CMRA), Lisle, Ill., has three significant efforts under way to promote concrete and asphalt recycling. Most of the organization’s members recycle concrete and asphalt for roadwork and other base course uses, according to executive director William Turley.

The first project is being organized by Kelly Ingalls, Regional Director of the Southern California Chapter of the CMRA. Some local CMRA members there (Dan Copp Crushing, Anaheim, Calif.; Hanson Aggregates, Santa Fe Springs, Calif.; and Newman & Sons, Sun Valley, Calif.); with more expected) have banded together to fund the development of a presentation on the engineering characteristics of recycled aggregate.

The presentation will be given on a one-on-one basis with highway engineers of Southern California municipalities that do not allow recycled aggregates to be used in their road construction. The aim is to show them the material’s true characteristics and overcome the barrier to recycled aggregate’s use in those communities.

The information for the project has been developed by Steve Marvin of Labelle/Marvin, a materials engineering firm based in Santa Ana, Calif. Marvin also will present the data to the highway engineers. If this effort is successful, the CMRA will be looking for opportunities to re-create this project with members in other parts of the country.

The CMRA also is looking to create a concrete recycling Web site that will provide all known information about the practice. The Web site, under the domain name www.concreterecycling.org, would be modeled on the association’s www.shinglerecycling.org Web page, which covers asphalt shingle recycling. A contractor has been chosen for the job and preliminary work has been done to assemble the necessary data, but funding still needs to be secured. Grant proposals are being considered by several possible funding sources.

Finally, the CMRA has contacted the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) concerning a proposed National Review on Recycled Concrete Aggregate. According to the proposal, “The purpose of this review is to capture for technical deployment the most advanced uses of recycled concrete aggregate and then transfer the knowledge to all state transportation agencies (STAs). Through this sharing of information, we intend to showcase how other STAs overcame barriers and advanced the routine use of recycled concrete as aggregate. Specific uses or applications will be identified along with their barriers and benefits to implementation. Specifications, construction practices and implementation challenges will also be documented. This information will then be disseminated to all STAs through technical guidance, training, and guide specifications, as necessary.”

Five states—Minnesota, Utah, Virginia, Texas and Michigan—have been chosen for an in-depth review of their recycled concrete aggregate programs. In a message to FHWA Engineer Bryan Cowley, who is developing the project, CMRA’s executive director William Turley wrote: “If anyone knows the answers to the project’s professed objectives of overcoming barriers to recycled concrete’s use and advancing the routine use of recycled concrete aggregate, it would be our members, who have been intimately involved in that process for years.” The CMRA will continue to monitor this project through to its completion.

Additional information on any of these projects can be obtained by calling the CMRA at (630) 548-4510.