If you have recently purchased a commercial property and want to construct a building on the site, then you may need to demolish the existing one. A demolition service can help you with this sort of job. This is important, because demolition is highly skilled and dangerous work. When demolition is completed, you will have the opportunity to recycle many of the raw materials. This is true of the concrete that is removed from the site. Your demolition company can salvage the concrete and work to recycle it for you. There are many benefits of the recycling.

Reduced Landfill Costs

If you have spoken to the demolition company about the overall costs of the demo job, then you may understand that disposal costs are included in your estimate. As the demolition job advances, your contractors will collect all the waste in one or several dumpsters. These dumpsters will be emptied at a construction and demolition landfill. These landfills are special waste collection facilities that are meant to hold construction debris. The landfill, and the solid wastes dumped there, must meet stringent EPA standards. Specifically, all wastes must be non-hazardous.

Regulations and permits are required to open and run construction and demolition landfills. The costs are passed down to contractors and individuals who need to throw away construction wastes. Also, since most construction loads are not sorted, the landfill will need to sort the waste material and place them in different areas of the landfill.

Most mixed or non-sorted construction loads cost a set amount per ton of material. For example, a landfill in California is likely to charge almost $60 for the waste material per ton. If concrete is pulled out of the waste, separated, and sent to the same facility for recycling, the cost is only about $26 a ton. This translates to less than half the cost to recycle concrete instead of throwing it away. Basically, you can save yourself thousands of dollars in disposal costs by simply recycling concrete waste material.

Environmental Benefits

When you recycle concrete, the material is cleaned and broken up. It is then passed through a crushing machine that breaks up the material further. Larger chunks of materials are passed through the machine again until they are much smaller in size. The smaller pieces then go through processing so that contaminants and particulate matter are removed. Smaller concrete rocks and aggregate material is then shipped to construction companies. This material is then used as gravel to construct foundations for roads and other large scale federal or state projects.

Concrete can be crushed down to powder as well. The powder can then be used to create brand new concrete. The material is sold in bags like other types of dry cement. 

When the concrete is recycled for use as gravel or a dry cement mix, less new cement, gravel, or concrete needs to be created. This reduces the impact of manufacturing on the environment. Also, recycling keeps useable concrete out of landfills. This conserves space and leaves room for demolition waste that cannot be recycled.

Keeping concrete out of landfills helps to reduce pollution issues and groundwater contamination concerns. Concrete is an acidic material that can cause groundwater to become more acidic than it should be. This in turn creates an imbalance in the pH of local streams, lakes, and ponds. Drastic pH changes can disrupt the local wildlife and affect the local flora and fauna in a negative manner. 

If you want to work with a demolition company to have a commercial building removed on a newly purchased site, then you should make sure that materials like concrete are recycled. Not only can this reduce your costs, but it can help the environment as well. To learn more, contact companies like Alliance Demolition Services Inc.