A journey from the successful experiment of an Italian company to the Vegas strip: to prove how easy it is to recover demolition debris with MB Crusher crusher buckets.

Pinpointing the exact origins of the world’s most common building material is challenging, it made its first appearance more than 5000 years ago as the Assyrians and Egyptians understood the versatility of building in the desired shapes. Technique and knowledge were then improved during the Ancient Roman Empire as their mastery of concrete was beyond doubt.

Throughout the years concrete production and applications have been improved, bringing us to the present day in Abruzzo, a region in central Italy, where the company Sismex uses a BF120.4 MB Crusher crusher bucket for its on-site crushing and the production of a new material, an eco-concrete. 

Eco-concrete, a successful experiment

Sismex SRL began its history as an earthmoving company and over the years it has evolved with other services, including supplying roll-off dumpsters to the construction sites where companies can differentiate waste and rubble, which then they collect and take to their plants.

 On site, they also have an MB Crusher jaw crusher, a BF120.4, which they use on their Caterpillar. 

 “We began to use the crusher bucket to crush debris produced during demolition to reuse them in road foundations – says the company owner– then we found out that it could also be used to make a recycled material that is suitable for the production of non-load-bearing concrete”.

Practically, they mix the material produced by BF120.4 with cement and produce blocks of eco-concrete. “Eco” because it does not include natural raw materials, but thanks to the crusher bucket it is made only of recycled materials while keeping characteristics and performance comparable to traditional natural materials.

These eco-concrete blocks represent an innovation in the construction industry, precisely because they offer a sustainable method to create solid structures, using recycled materials. MB Crusher’s jaw crusher bucket was indispensable for this work: it transformed demolition materials into new recycled material, thus contributing to the reduction of waste and the conscious use of resources. 

From the production of eco-concrete to the recycling of concrete with rebars

The journey continues from Italy to Las Vegas. The Sin City is the host of the World of Concrete where MB Crushers’ screener and jaw crusher buckets staged their show reclaiming concrete.  

To answer the question: why use recycled concrete? 

Simple is the answer. Because it is very versatile, it reduces the environmental impact associated with the disposal of old concrete and requires less energy for production.

With MB Crusher equipment, the process becomes easier: the same machinery used on site, an operator and an MB Crusher jaw crusher, are all needed to obtain high-quality material – which can also be screened on site with the MB screening bucket – to be reused for example as a road substrate, for fillings, foundations and many other uses. 

Reinforcement is not a challenge

 Concrete can contain reinforcement, but with MB Crusher this is not a problem. 

 With reinforced materials, disposal costs and times often skyrocket. The biggest problem is the iron, which can cut the conveyor belt, causing machine downtime.

 With the MB Crusher bucket, however, the iron comes out thanks to the force of gravity along with the crushed material. If you then equip the crusher bucket with an iron separator magnet, you can collect the iron from the pile while sitting in the cabin.

Our ancestors hit the nail on the head. They understood that with concrete they could obtain artificial rocks of any shape and they built some of the 7 wonders of the world, imagine what they would have achieved if they had an MB Crusher bucket!