Recycling Demolition Waste: A Guide
If your property has suffered fire, flood or structural damage, you will need to call in a damage management contractor so they can stabilise the property and demolish and remove any parts which are dangerous or beyond repair. Depending on the level of damage, this could generate a large quantity of waste material. Whereas this material used to be sent straight to landfill, a large amount of it is now recycled. Below is a guide to the different materials a damage contractor can recycle.
Bricks and Concrete
Bricks will normally be cracked or broken by the tools and machinery used to demolish walls within a property. These broken bricks will normally be recycled and used as 'builders rubble', which can be used to backfill excavations and to build foundations for new roads and buildings.
Concrete blocks will normally be passed through a concrete crusher. The crusher reduces the concrete to a fine dust. This dust can then be remixed with water and new concrete so it can be used again to build concrete walls, floors and other structures.
Metal
Rising demand from China means that metals such as steel, iron, aluminium and copper are increasing in value. This has acted as an incentive for damage contractors to recycle metal from your property. Steel reinforcing bars, aluminium roofing and copper pipes within your home can be removed and taken to a metal recycling centre. At the centre, the metal will be melted down and cleaned of impurities before being recast.
Timber
In the past, the use of heavy machinery during the demolition process would damage any timber within a property to such an extent that it could not be reused. However, due to the increasing resale value of timber, damage contractors are increasingly taking the time to remove it from buildings before they send in the bulldozers. Specialist teams will first inspect the property to check the condition of the timber and to establish if it can be safely removed. Timber which is load bearing is typically left in place to prevent the premature collapse of the building. Salvaged timber can be used in the construction of new buildings or utilised as part of outdoor landscaping projects.
If you would like to find out more about the demolition process and how materials can be salvaged and recycled, you should contact a damage management company today. Their staff will be happy to visit your property to carry out an assessment before beginning work.