What is C&D recycling?
Construction and demolition (C&D) waste is generated from the cleanup, renovation, repair, and demolition of houses, buildings, roads, dams, etc. C&D waste is made up of plastic, wood, steel, cardboard, concrete, sheetrock, masonry, metal, tires, mattresses, furniture, and much more. C&D recycling involves the process of recovering recyclable materials (plastic, metal, cardboard, wood, etc.) from the C&D waste stream and preventing them from going into a landfill. At Willimantic Waste we use a semi-automated sorting system to recover the recyclables.

What are the benefits of our C&D recycling system?
Willimantic Waste's system gives us the flexibility to recover and process a variety of C&D debris. The recovered material can then be recycled rather than going into a landfill.

How is C&D sorted?
C&D is recycled using a Lubo USA sorting system in place at Willimantic Waste's Willimantic, CT location. The system measures about 400 feet in length. Material travels over a variety of conveyors, screens and other sorting equipment to create a number of marketable end-products from mixed C&D debris. By incorporating a flexible design with elements specifically chosen to address Willimantic’s unique material mix, the Lubo system helps recover material in a cost-effective way.

How does it work?
The process starts on the tipping floor where an excavator fitted with a grapple feeds mixed C&D debris onto a vibrating table. This table feeds the material onto a conveyor that leads to the first sorting station. There, sorters pick out stringy material and large metal.

Material then goes through a primary star-screen to separate larger debris from smaller materials. Material that measures more than 18 inches goes through a sorting conveyor with bins beneath it. Workers stationed at each bin pick out different materials — rigid plastic, OCC, aggregate, ferrous and nonferrous metal, and wood. Material smaller than 18 inches falls through the primary star-screen and is then processed over a second star-screen. The second screen separates out the "fines" and sends remaining debris to a vacuum system that pulls light fractions from the mix. Material then passes under an overhead magnet, which pulls metal out.

Materials left after vacuum and magnet processing are shingles, concrete and wood. These materials are put into a water bath separator, where light material, like wood, floats onto another screen, while "heavies," such as concrete and shingles, sink.

For more information about C&D recycling, please contact us at 1-800-286-5335.