Crushing Solutions in Construction Waste Recycling

By 2020, Henan Province aims to achieve significant reduction, harmlessness, resource utilization, and industrialization of construction waste. The resource utilization rate of construction waste in provincial cities is expected to exceed 70%, while in county-level cities, it should surpass 50%. Chang Qingsheng, a leader from the Henan Provincial Department of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, emphasized the importance of construction waste reuse during a recent work deployment.

With rapid urban infrastructure development, the pace of demolition has also accelerated, making construction waste a persistent problem for governments and developers. How can construction waste be turned into treasure?

Visiting one of the recycled building materials production bases in Xuchang City, the first sight is a mountain-like pile of construction waste, over 10 meters high and nearly 100 meters in diameter. Nearby, a 20-meter-long, 4-meter-high tracked mobile crushing and screening machine appears modest in comparison. The base manager explained that this machine is powerful despite its unassuming appearance.

When the operator starts the machine, it begins to "consume" construction waste continuously. Within minutes, various particles of different sizes emerge from different discharge outlets. Steel bars and iron blocks mixed in the construction waste are attracted by strong electromagnetic forces and expelled through a small pipe on the other side. The entire process requires only one operator and can crush 500 tons of construction waste per hour. These particles become raw materials for road construction, wall building, and brick making.

According to the base manager, the company's production line can "transform" over 300,000 tons of construction waste annually, producing nearly 300 million eco-friendly bricks. Other products made from treated construction waste number over 100 types. The entire process is low-carbon and environmentally friendly, requiring no coal, heating, water, or smoke.

In Xuchang City, over 4.5 million tons of construction waste can be processed annually, with a resource utilization rate exceeding 95%. Construction waste has indeed become a valuable asset.

It is reported that Henan Province currently has 35 construction waste resource utilization enterprises. In 2017, over 60 million tons of construction waste were reused or disposed of on-site across the province, achieving a resource utilization rate of 50%. This marked a significant shift from the previous extensive management model of arbitrary disposal.

However, it is worth noting that half of the construction waste generated in Henan Province last year was still not resourcefully reused, forming various sizes of "waste mountains."

"The investment density for construction waste projects is low, and the economic benefits are poor." Some enterprises do not pay enough attention to the resource utilization of construction waste, lacking initiative and failing to regard environmental protection as a corporate social responsibility, thereby creating social pressure.