Dallas Contracting Co., Inc., a specialized contractor providing demolition, equipment salvage, wrecking, dismantlement, onsite concrete crushing, scrap metal recycling and used/surplus equipment sales to various industries recently completed the first phase of redevelopment for a site in Woodbridge, (NJ).

The 25-acre site was formerly an Ecolab facility and consisted of several attached buildings that comprised a total footprint of over 250,000 square feet. Dallas Contracting Co., Inc.’s (Dallas Contracting) scope included the total demolition of the buildings including slabs, foundations and footings, asbestos abatement, removal of a rail spur and truck scale and the onsite crushing of all concrete and masonry materials.

Prior to any demolition occurring, Dallas Contracting completed all utility disconnects and had ACM removed from some portions of the roof and interior piping wrap. The Mack Group, LLC, completed the asbestos abatement portion of the work.

Excavation and trucking costs have always been burdensome for land developers and development projects.  With an increasing focus on redevelopment and revitalization of  old sites, the removal of all asphalt concrete roads and sidewalks has produced even more opportunities for recycling. And, while recycling is not new to the industry, it certainly has been adjusting over the past five years.

“Certain aspects of the recycling market are new – or seeing a significant increase – primarily  due to the economics of the situation,” says Damon Kozul, PE, CHMM, an engineer with the firm. “With landfill space at such a premium and the costs rising, combined with new technology and equipment that is now in place, it simply makes economic sense.”

Accordingly, the introduction of portable crushers has not only eliminated the removal of asphalt and cement, it has also eliminated the need to bring in aggregate to serve as a base material for new roads sidewalks and other development needs.

While the portable onsite crushing equipment runs as much as $500,000 for a contractor, Kozul says the demand is almost outpacing the equipment.

“The cost savings in New Jersey – where tipping fees start at $60 a ton and are often over $100 a ton – has really enticed developers to start requesting this and including onsite crushing in their bids. In the past, this was something that we used to have to suggest – not anymore,” said Kozul.

He says that his firm has seen a strong surge in concrete recycling, but also in antique brick and wood.

“Wood material, has also received a large increase in recycling interest, your antique woods like yellow pine,” reveals Kozul. “I’ve even seen a dramatic increase in beams being reused. In fact, there are mills being set up exclusively to take in these boards and beams and then re-mill them to be used as flooring or as beams again.”

Consumers are actually paying a premium price for some of these materials.

On the Ecolab project, debris was carefully separated from recyclable materials and shipped offsite for disposal. Concrete, masonry and brick were set aside for onsite crushing. Steel and metals were sent offsite for scrap metal recycling.

Once the buildings were demolished, Dallas Contracting began the removal of all slabs, foundations, footings and the asphalt parking lot. The concrete and asphalt removal was completed using Komatsu PC-400 excavators mounted with buckets and concrete pulverizer attachments. Front end loaders and skid steers assisted with stockpiling and removal efforts.

Once the concrete was removed and stockpiled it needed to be sized in order to fit into the throat opening of Dallas Contracting’s mobile crushing plant. A Komatsu excavator mounted with a Stanley hammer attachment, and a Komatsu excavator mounted with a concrete pulverizer attachment, was used to size the concrete. The large concrete (some pieces larger then four feet by four feet ) was sized to less than one foot by one foot.

Concrete, brick, masonry and asphalt were crushed onsite into 11/2 inch or smaller material using an Eagle Crusher Company, Inc. UltraMax 1000-15CV Plant with stacking conveyors. Dallas Contracting has owned this unit for over five year and was extremely pleased with its production on this project. Daily crushed material production was over 1,000 tons. Crushed concrete, brick and masonry were stockpiled separately from crushed asphalt materials. The crushed materials will be reused onsite by the developer for backfilling purposes.

The salvage of several pieces of equipment was also conducted prior to any demolition. Dallas Contracting was able to salvage and sell a Caterpillar fire pump, a truck scale and associated shed, and several dock levelers and rollup doors as used equipment.

Dallas Contracting utilized its extensive fleet of equipment and trained personnel to complete the demolition of the buildings in a safe manner. Equipment utilized to complete the demolition included a Komatsu PC-400-LC6 mounted with a Labounty rotating shear (MSD-70R), a Komatsu PC-400 mounted with a concrete pulverizer jaw attachment (this was also used at times with a Labounty straight shear), a Komatsu PC300-5 mounted with a grapple (also used with a shear attachment), a Komatsu PC200-LC6 mounted with a grapple, a Fiat wheel loader and several Cat 236 skid steers. The site crew had an average composition of ten employees. The project was completed in about 8 months without incident or injury.

Kozul estimates that Dallas Contracting alone crushed 100,000 tons of material and had it reutilized onsite last year. In addition, the company salvaged over 100,000 board feet of timbers and 100 pallets of bricks (500 bricks per pallet). All are historical highs for the two-year old firm.  SLDT