Wet Concrete Recycling

August 5, 2021

Look up the term “concrete recycling” on Wikipedia and you’ll see it defined as recycling concrete rubble from demolition projects. But put the word “wet” in front of it and you have an entirely different animal.

“Wet concrete recycling” is very closely related to concrete reclaiming, which what concrete reclaimers do: separate out the aggregates and graywater from returned wet concrete so that concrete producers can recycle them when making new concrete. A concrete reclaimer such as the BIBKO 1000, 2000, or 4000 accepts wet concrete and washout water from mixers and produces clean, dry aggregate and re-usable graywater.

But concrete reclaimers cost money. Since concrete producers are in business to make money, how is it that a market exists for these machines?

The answer is that they neatly solve several problems. First, using a reclaimer cleans up the environment around the plant. Washout water goes into the reclaimer’s giant holding tank rather than into weir pits or, worse, into nearby streams. Second, a reclaimer reduces the amount raw materials (both aggregate and process water) needed to produce new concrete. Third, it eliminates the cost of breaking up and disposing of concrete that has hardened on the ground.

It’s that combination of environmental and economic benefits that drives the sale of concrete reclaimers to thousands of concrete producers around the world. (For three real-world examples, read the article Reclaimer ROI in Concrete Products.)

But back to the term “wet concrete recycling.” It’s not exactly the same thing as reclaiming, but it includes reclaiming as well as reusing those materials to produce new concrete.

If you got here by searching on “wet concrete recycling,” welcome! Be sure to check out all the useful concrete reclaiming products on this site.