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Concrete Recycling
If you have driven south of Camrose Drive along 50 Street, you most likely have seen a large stockpile of crushed aggregate immediately north of the sewage lagoons (at the City Concrete Compound). Following are the answers to a few of the commonly asked questions regarding concrete crushing.
Q: Where have the concrete and asphalt slabs come from?
A: These slabs are the broken pieces of old sidewalks, driveways and roadway curbs. The majority of the pieces are from City projects, although some of the concrete is from private projects (such as building demolition and sidewalk replacement).
Q: How much concrete and asphalt is typically crushed at the City Concrete Compound?
A: It is impossible to know exactly how much concrete is in the compound, but best estimates place the volume of concrete and asphalt at approximately 15000 cubic meters or 20000 cubic yards.
Q: How long does the crushing take?
A: Crushing is usually completed within 3 weeks, barring unforseen circumstances.
Q: Who typically crushes the concrete?
A: A contractor under a tender (Fish Creek Excavating Ltd. of Calgary was the last to undertake the work).
Q: How is the crushing paid for? Are our taxes paying for this?
A: Taxes are not used to subsidize this program. Every time a truck dumps off a load of concrete or asphalt at the City Concrete Compound, either the hauler or the generator of the material is charged a "tipping fee" (See Rates). This tipping fee pays for all the storage, crushing, and other costs related to the concrete recycling. Thus, the cost for the crushing is already paid for by the hauler and/or generator of the material.
Q: What will be done with the crushed concrete and asphalt pieces?
A: The City plans to use the crushed pieces as a "sub-base" gravel for new roads on City projects. Sub-base gravel is used in the bottom layer of a road, designed to give the road its strength. Because the crushed material is still about 63 millimetres (2 1/2") in size, it is not suitable for use as the finished surface for the roads. In reusing this concrete as sub-base gravel, rather than using new gravel that would need to purchased from another source, the City will be saving taxpayers thousands of dollars.
Q: Why are we doing this?
A: There are a number of reasons for crushing this concrete, including:
- Prolonging the life of the landfill;
- Protecting the environment by not burying the old material in a hole and not needing to extract more gravel from the ground; and
- Saving taxpayers money by using recycled concrete and asphalt in new projects.
Q: Can I dump in the City Concrete Compound too?
A: Yes, you can! Phone Public Works at 672-5513 for more information.
Below are a number of pictures taken of the crushing process.
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| A large back-hoe in the concrete pile. | The back-hoe dumps the concrete slabs into the crushing machine. |
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| After being crushed, the concrete is screened and a large magnet removes all the broken metal pieces (i.e. Re-bar). | A number of conveyor belts relays the concrete to a large pile east of the crusher. |
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| Well after the crushing is completed | |