Recycled Asphalt

A lot of it has been spread around the United States, but not much ink has been spilled on the increasing use of recycled asphalt. According to Recycling Magazine, asphalt is one of the most reused materials in the entire world. In the U.S., around 90 percent of reclaimed asphalt is reprocessed.

There are many reasons paving contractors are turning to the product, and we’ll break a few of them down.

• It’s the right economical decision: as the outlet points out, the National Asphalt Paving Association claims that U.S. taxpayers save $2 billion annually from the recycling of asphalt. But it’s not just good for taxpayers, but for contractors. The process of recycling asphalt is low-cost and doing so wipes out other costs associated with fresh asphalt, like quarrying.
• It’s good for the environment: asphalt is made from natural resources, including oil. So any natural resources extracted from the Earth are given a second life when asphalt is recycled, instead of degrading over hundreds of years in a landfill. As President Joe Biden pivots towards a greener infrastructure, recycled asphalt will certainly become a more popular product.
• It’s even better than fresh asphalt in some cases: recycled asphalt often winds up being more resilient than regular asphalt. As Recycling Magazine notes, “resources from other manufacturing units are cast off into asphalt supplies instead of [winding[ up in landfills. In a nutshell, everything from crystal, and asphalt roofing grits does find a place in new asphalt.” Because of this, and the pulverizing and recycling process, recycled asphalt ends up being “more tough and resilient.”

Equipment Attachments

With the coronavirus pandemic, more and more small business owners and contractors are increasingly emphasising the importance of self-reliance in their business models. So rather than buying or renting a machine dedicated to paving, it may make sense for a lot of pavers to instead look for equipment to attach to their tractors and other machines that works just as well.

The good folks over at Equipment World have put together a fantastic list of attachments for concrete and asphalt jobs. We’ll highlight just a few of the equipment pieces they recommend.

• Danuser’s Mega Mixer: The Mega Mixer can scoop, mix and dispense everything from concrete to livestock feed. According to Danuser, you can “conveniently dispense left or right” with “adjustable mounting brackets and pallet fork tne slots on both sides.”
• The Edge Cold Planer: Product descriptions say “Asphalt and concrete are quickly milled due to the high torque generated by the planetary gearbox.” Edge makes different products for different flow needs. High flow models feature “electro-hydraulic side shift, tilt/depth control and are single-circuit with 3 hydraulic lines.”
• Minnich Manufacturing’s A3/A6 drills: According to the product description, these machine-mounted drills “maximize productivity and safety on patchwork jobs. Featuring up to six drills, these pneumatic units can be mounted to an excavator, backhoe or skid-steer loader to form a self-contained and highly mobile drilling solution for full-depth repair.”

For a full list of equipment attachments recommended by Equipment World, see their article here.