Speakers identify trends in C&D; equipment designed to keep up with evolving material streams.
To adequately address equipment trends in the construction and demolition (C&D) recycling industry, it is important to examine the evolution of the industry itself, from advancing technologies to additional C&D recycling streams. That is what Howard Fiedler—head of recycling sales for Sparta Innovations, based in Notre Dame, New Brunswick —told attendees of C&D World 2015, the annual meeting of the Construction & Demolition Recycling Association (CDRA), Aurora, Illinois.
Fiedler, who presented during C&D World in Nashville, Tennessee, March 29, during the “Trends in the Equipment Industry” session, which kicked off the conference, said C&D companies today are “looking for more.”
From accepting more materials to adding equipment to existing systems, operators are considering all of their options, Fiedler noted.
He explained how C&D recyclers should always consider incorporating another sorting bay in recycling systems as “you don’t know what companies will want in the future, so always add one more bay.”
“The C&D material stream is very difficult to deal with as you all know,” Fiedler said.
He continued, “Today, you see longer sort lines, which recover more material. Now there is grade A wood, grade B wood and concrete,” Fiedler said, adding, “Splitting the flow into A and B sort lines is a game changer.”
In addition to bulky, heavy materials, including concrete, asphalt, brick, metals and other building components, more C&D recyclers are integrating wood grinding into their systems to separate certain wood types, Fiedler said. While optical sorting “has become very accepted” in C&D recycling streams, Fiedler said, further automation would be required to use when sorting wood.
“Many customers are putting fixed electric grinders integrated into their C&D systems,” he said.
Fiedler also observed that front-end fuel prep systems are morphing and merging with C&D sorting systems, something he calls “a positive development for the C&D industry seeing [those two] coming together.”
Tim Griffin of Continental Biomass Industries (CBI), Newton, New Hampshire, discussed the company’s whole tree chipper, the Magnum Force Disc Chipper 754. The three-flail design has an optional fourth flail and owners also can choose a wheel-mounted or track-mounted model, he said.
“Equipment is the most important part of the system; get equipment built first and then build walls around it,” Griffin said.
For one wood recycler, a first-of-its-kind screen is helping that company to handle large pieces of timber, said Dick Reeves, another speaker and resource recovery industry manager for General Kinematics (GK), a vibratory equipment manufacturer based in Crystal Lake, Illinois.
GK introduced in August 2014 the SXS screen, which it said is the first of its kind in the industry. The screen was developed for municipal solid waste (MSW) and single-stream and commercial and industrial (C&I) materials.
While one company uses the SXS screen to process only wood, the first recycler to purchase the GK screen runs C&D materials 80 percent of the time and MSW on a second shift, Reeves said.
The SXS screen has served these increasingly multistream requirements well, he said.
“What we’ve seen in multistream requirements is that you can be processing C&D materials four days a week and one day, or a half day, process MSW,” Reeves said.
He added, “We pride ourselves on being equipment suppliers and solutions providers.”
Another material that has seen a growing interest from C&D recyclers are ceiling tiles. Ceiling recycling can help building owners and contractors save money on container costs and landfill fees and also can contribute to LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) credits for construction waste management.
Neal McDwyer, recycling coordinator for Armstrong World Industries Inc., Lancaster, Pennsylvania, led the equipment trend session by describing the Armstrong Ceiling Recycling Program.
The program enables commercial building owners and contractors to ship discarded ceiling tiles from demolition and renovation projects to the nearest Armstrong plant as an alternative to landfill disposal. The discarded tiles are then used to manufacture new ceilings in a closed-loop process.
In its 16th year, McDwyer told conference attendees that through the Armstrong Ceiling Recycling Program 168 million square feet of ceiling tiles have been recycled to date. In 2014, the company diverted from landfill 8.5 million tons of ceiling tiles, he said.
McDwyer said the program also serves as incentive for LEED certification, especially considering an extension to the certification known as LEED v4 until October 31, 2016.
“More and more LEED projects demand more and more recycled content, so we’re growing each year,” McDwyer said in regard to how much ceiling tiles the company recovers. “With LEED v4, this will matter even more.”
Safety first
Despite these changes and updates, safety has remained of upmost importance for equipment suppliers, said Michael Condron of Peoria, Illinois-based Caterpillar Inc. There are many hazards in the C&D industry, he acknowledged, and Caterpillar has recently introduced equipment features that focus on that fact.
“Look at how are your operators are getting in and out of the cab,” Condron pressed attendees. From cameras to guarding to lighting, Caterpillar has paid close attention to these details, Condron said. “We are really innovating when it comes to safety,” he said.
John Schumacher, a senior vice president and shareholder at Assurance Agency, an independent insurance brokerage based in Schaumburg, Illinois, explained to attendees the value of safety management within C&D recycling companies. Assurance has nearly 600 clients in the C&D recycling industry, he said. Schumacher focuses on insurance placement and risk management for businesses within the waste and recycling and food industries.
Schumacher outlined how written safety policies should mirror company rules and the significance of safety training and inspections. On the company’s website, www.assuranceagency.com, two different white papers, both published in March 2015, highlight the relevance of safety with the titles, “Six Ways to Promote Safety without a Director” and “How to Break the Ice and Start a Safety Committee”.
During the equipment session, Schumacher noted how trends should be viewed as best practices. For example, best practice companies have a regular Occupational Hazard and Safety Administration (OSHA) practices in place as, “it is very important to avert a loss that would otherwise happen,” he recognized.
“Know your insurance coverage and know it well,” Schumacher warned.
Technology takeover
In addition to maintaining safe operations through personnel, Condron suggested the value of technology in today’s equipment.
“Technology has taken leaps and bounds toward safer equipment,” Condron said. “Technology will not only keep you safe, it also will help with operating costs.”
While Condron said he considers safety the No. 1 significant factor in regard to equipment, technology ranks second in his book. “Technology is an evolution I’d look at from an operating cost standpoint. Think of it more as an evolution and not a trend as we hope these stick around.”
Now that C&D recyclers have access to touch screen control panels with Internet capabilities, taking care of business can be done in a more timely fashion, no matter the decision-maker’s location, Fiedler said.
“More commonly you’re seeing touch screen control panels – [executives] can be anywhere in world and capture data right then, which is useful,” Fiedler said.
C&D Word 2015 was held March 29-31 at the Music City Center in Nashville, Tennessee.