Municipal demolition waste is the most awkward feed in the industry: mixed, variable, reinforced, and full of things that were never meant to go through a crusher. The line has to be built around the impurities, not around the crusher.
We built and operate a 500 t/h construction and demolition waste recycling line in Hangzhou — a "building-plant", processing demolition material on the demolition site itself rather than trucking it away. That project is the reference behind this page, and it is why we talk about impurity handling with some authority: municipal waste contains rebar, timber, plastics, gypsum board and oversized concrete blocks, and each of them has a way of stopping a line that was designed for clean quarry rock.
The commercial logic is straightforward. Landfill and disposal fees in most cities rise faster than aggregate prices fall. A recycling line converts a cost line into a product line — recycled 0–40 mm aggregate for sub-base and backfill, and, with a sand stage, manufactured sand for lower-grade concrete. In-city operation also removes the haul distance, which in a dense urban site is often the largest single cost.
Heavy-duty apron or bar feeder takes the dumped load and screens out soil and fine debris before it reaches the primary. The feeder must tolerate impact loading from grab-dropped material.
Overbelt magnetic separation for rebar, and manual or mechanical removal of timber and plastics. This stage is what keeps the crusher alive.
Jaw crusher with a wide setting and reinforced jaw plates. Oversized concrete blocks and residual reinforcement are absorbed here rather than downstream.
Secondary reduction and separation into saleable cuts. A VSI sand stage produces 0–5 mm for lower-grade concrete; the wet process handles the fines and the rainy season.
| Stage | Equipment | Purpose | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Receiving | Heavy-duty bar feeder / apron feeder | Tolerate grab-dropped, mixed loads | Reinforced trough and grizzly bars |
| Pre-screening | Circular vibrating screen (heavy-duty) | Remove soil and fine debris | Reduces crusher load and contamination |
| Metal removal | Overbelt magnetic separator | Extract rebar and steel | Positioned after primary or before it, according to the mix |
| Primary | SJ.E jaw crusher | Reduce concrete rubble and blocks | Coarse setting, reinforced jaw plates |
| Secondary | SK.D / SK.Y cone | Reduce to saleable cuts | Wear strategy set for concrete, not quarry rock |
| Sand | SJ.L VSI + dewatering screen | Produce 0–5 mm recycled sand | Wet process for fines and rainy-season duty |
| Water circuit | Settling / recirculation | Recover process water | Reduces make-up water demand significantly |
Indicative only. The main variables are your waste mix, contamination level and the proportion of oversize concrete in the feed — all of which we ask about before sizing.
Typically recycled 0–40 mm aggregate for sub-base, backfill and road foundation layers, and with a sand stage, 0–5 mm recycled sand for lower-grade concrete and mortar. The sellable mix depends on your local specification and on your waste composition — we will not promise a product list your market has not accepted.
Overbelt magnetic separation, positioned according to where the steel is liberated in your process. Heavy reinforcement also argues for a jaw with reinforced plates and a wider setting, so that residual bar passes rather than jamming the chamber.
The machines are the same family; the design emphasis changes. More tolerance in the feed stages, more impurity handling, more robustness in the screens, and a much stronger argument for the wet process. The configuration sheet for a C&D project looks noticeably different from one for granite.
No — those are local matters outside what a crusher manufacturer should be advising on. We will supply the technical description and process drawings your permit application will need, and we are used to answering the technical questions regulators ask.
Waste mix, contamination level and the products your market accepts. You get an arrangement recommendation and an equipment list — including whether the wet process is warranted.