5 Materials You Can Salvage After An Industrial Demo

Do you know what happens to old buildings once they come down? They look like giant mountains of junk when you see everything lying on the ground, but it’s packed full of materials that can be recycled.

Most materials will be reused in the future if they’re non-hazardous, which will keep happening throughout time. Let’s look at some common stuff industrial demo teams will be looking to find in the mess.

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   Flooring

Flooring will be recycled after an industrial demo, but it’s pretty complicated. Only 10% of carpeting goes because it’s hard to use again. You’ve also got materials like PVC, vinyl, and tiles to recycle in their own unique ways.

It’s possible to use shredded carpets instead of coal in cement kilns, which is less coal we need to mine from the ground. Materials that aren’t covered in annoying patches of adhesive and latex are more popular.

2. Concrete

Once you’ve carried out demolition full service contracting Burlington, you’re left with a large amount of concrete. It’s pretty tough to remove the trace plastics and mortar paste, so it goes through downcycling.

Instead of using concrete blocks and columns as you’d find inside buildings, it’s broken down into shredded or pebble pieces, which are used in various ways. You’ll see them used to pack roads all the time.

3. Drywall

Drywall is one of the best materials to recycle because it’s a very easy process. You need to hope the walls stay intact once they come crumbling down. The paper envelope part of the drywall will disappear first.

It’s recycled like the average piece of paper or wood. The gypsum core will be used over and over again until it’s finally thrown away. Things start to get tricky if the drywall falls apart during the demolition.

4. Glass

Glass is used a lot in buildings today, even though it’s not always necessary. Architects appreciate how much it brightens and opens up skyscrapers, so you’ll find piles of glass when structures are demolished.

Heat can be used to liquefy glass before it’s turned back into bottles and jars. It’s more problematic when recycling colored glass, which isn’t common. I doubt you’ll demolish many churches over a long career.

5. Steel

Most large buildings are built using steel frames because they’re so strong. The alloy is recycled more than anything else on earth, which is probably because there is so much left over when buildings come down.

Steel doesn’t even end up in landfills because it’s so popular. Roughly 70% of rebar is recycled, which is much lower. It’s expensive to separate the steel and concrete, so it’s not always worth focusing on after projects.

There Is Lots Of Cash Involved

Buildings are still worth quite a lot of money when they’re lying in a massive pile of rubble, so demolition work isn’t finished as soon as they collapse.

Time will be spent ensuring everything is recycled properly because it’s how companies increase their profits these days. Nobody wants to leave money sitting on the table.

Originally posted 2022-09-25 21:18:54.