Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
Pop cans, plastic, cardboard and paper.
Just a short list of products most people know can be recycled.
Did you also know that concrete, asphalt, brick and some gravel can be recycled, too?
G&G Hauling & Excavating Inc. has recycled those materials for approximately 10 years, according to G&G President Cary Groninger.
They bought a concrete jaw crusher their first year to recycle the material. Five years ago, they bought an impact crusher. Last year, they bought the concrete impact crusher they use now.
Groninger said, "We're the only ones in the county that have that kind of equipment."
To recycle concrete, a backhoe drops concrete into the crusher's hopper. The concrete slabs are no more than 30 inches in diameter. The concrete is broken down into 4- to 6-inch pieces by the crusher, which are then thrown inside the crusher against a big steel plate.
The pieces are taken away on a conveyor. Along the conveyor, a magnetic separator takes out wiring and other metals and puts them into a hopper. The metals are transported to a salvage yard.
A screen separates the different sizes of the remaining concrete. Those different sizes are 1-1/2 to 3 inches; 3 to 5 inches; and 1-1/2 inches and less.
"We're using all that material on mostly commercial and industrial sub-base," Groninger said.
Most of the material G&G gets is from commercial and industrial sites. The material from the demolition of the buildings at the corner of Lake and Center streets, for the Justice Building expansion project, will be recycled at G&G. Groninger said most of the concrete they receive is from roadwork, however.
An advantage for G&G with their new concrete recycler is that it provides them with more mobility. The 94,000-pound machine can be transported from site to site instead of the material being hauled from a site to G&G. By recycling the material on-site, it can be used as an aggregate base at the site.
One problem, Groninger said, is that there isn't enough influx to keep the concrete crusher going. They have to take the big machine to Elkhart, Fulton, Whitley and other counties to keep it going. They did have a stockpile of concrete to recycle, but even that has dwindled.
The concrete crusher can grind 1,000 tons a day, or 50 truckloads, Groninger said.
As natural resources become more scarce and laws change to demand companies make use of more recycling products, Groninger said, the need to recycle concrete and asphalt will continue, too.
"A lot of your state highway work is calling for you to use recycled product," he said.
As G&G's business continues, Groninger said, they are already planning for the future. He said he'd like to have recycling sites throughout Kosciusko County.
He said, "It's something that's definitely environmentally friendly."
