After working as the executive vice president and chief operating officer of Caterpillar’s construction machinery division in Pittsburgh for more than 30 years, Dave Trueman decided to venture off and start his own business in 2004.

That year, he founded Mamont Supply & Recycling, a company based in Mckees Rocks, Pennsylvania, that exclusively processes concrete from across the Pittsburgh metropolitan area. From sidewalk and road aggregates to entire concrete walls and oddly shaped slabs, Trueman and his staff of four process nearly 250,000 tons of material annually.

“We receive probably the bulk of any concrete refuse that’s developed within the confines of the city and the encircled metropolitan area, whether it be from the private sector or public sector,” Trueman says.

With nearly three decades of industry knowledge under his belt, Trueman conducted extensive research before opening his facility, keeping numerous factors in mind when weighing what type of processing equipment would be best for the company’s operations.

“Being an old equipment veteran, I researched the market through and through. It is a part of my due diligence to look and see what other people are using, how well the machines are performing, and how well the dealers and the factory supports the unit,” Trueman says.

Working with such a rugged material stream, Trueman says he was looking for equipment that would both withstand the damage concrete could cause and provide versatility to use in other applications. In addition to an impact crusher and a hydraulic breaker attachment, he settled on an excavator attachment that would provide him the flexibility he wanted: a MCP910-IT hydraulic pulverizer from Breaker Technology Inc. (BTI), a company owned by ASTEC Industries, which is based in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

“When we started, we recognized that we would preferably like to have a primary crusher, but we also felt that the need for an impact crusher first was most important to us. So, I felt the compromise in not starting with a primary crusher could be somewhat mitigated by using a hydraulic pulverizer,” Trueman says.

Trueman’s research has paid off—more than 15 years later, he’s still using the same excavator attachment he invested in to help get his business off the ground.

Incoming material

Concrete comes into Mamont’s yard primarily by truck and is segregated by size. Concrete already sized into digestible bits is kept separate from larger slabs of material. Meanwhile, what Trueman categorizes as the “ugly stuff,” like abnormally sized footers and other pieces of concrete, are placed in their own separate area of the yard.

Trueman and his team first use their BTI BXR65 hydraulic breaker attachment to size down any large pieces of concrete into bits small enough for the hydraulic pulverizer to tackle before it heads to the facility’s Eagle UltraMax 1400-OC crusher for final processing.

“The attachment is used mainly to further pulverize concrete before putting it into a crusher for additional processing. The process of pulverizing it also allows steel rebar to be released from concrete,” says Ray Szwec, BTI’s eastern regional manager, about BTI’s hydraulic pulverizer.

Before the concrete reaches the final screening area, it passes through a series of magnets to remove as much metal residue as possible. Trueman employs a 48-inch hydraulic magnet from Lockport, New York-based Moley Magnetics during the pulverizing process to remove much of the rebar. This makes easier work of removing the rest of it after crushing. After crushing the material, Trueman uses two oversized suspended electromagnets to lift the rest of the metal out of the concrete before screening.

“The pulverizer seems to be a very good first step for delaminating the rebar we receive,” Trueman says. “We were able to buy a hydraulically driven magnet that we have attached to a John Deere 200 [excavator]. We sweep the rebar initially off of our preprocessed material before we feed it into the crusher. Therefore, our crusher’s magnet system is more efficient because we’ve already eliminated all the rebar it would have to handle.”

Trueman says the combination of equipment, along with the pulverizer’s speed and versatility, has created a concrete processing strategy that has helped take his business to new heights.

“This has really been effective. I can tell you, [the pulverizer] has really stepped up our metal recovery efforts, it has measurably improved the quality of our end product, and it still provides us with the versatility to use on excavators for whatever needs we may have.”

Maintaining uptime

BTI’s MCP-IT pulverizers are compact, and their blades that cut rebar and their jaws and teeth that gnash the material are made of high-wear-resistant steel for durability.

Still, the attachment requires regular maintenance. The frequency of this maintenance depends primarily on how often the attachment is used and what it is used for. Szwec says teeth replacement tends to be the most common maintenance need, but staying on top of regular lubrication of its grease fittings and cleaning the machine when disconnecting its hoses is also important.

Trueman says the company has run the attachment nearly 40 hours a week since its inception. In that time, he says the pulverizer has required minimal maintenance beyond basic preventative services—a feat he credits, in part, to proper use of the attachment.

“Philosophically speaking, we never ask one of our pieces of equipment or attachments to do more than it’s supposed to do. That’s how we’ve extended the life of the equipment and minimized operating costs: fewer men, more attachments, more efficiency,” Trueman says.

Trueman also credits the design of the attachment itself for the minimal downtime required.

“These things are not only very reliable mechanically, but my older processor is really reflective of how good they are structurally. We’ve never had a massive structural failure at all in any of the components of the pulverizer,” Trueman says. “And I’m talking about a lot of material, a lot of really heavy-duty work [that it has been used for]. If we get a couple miles of highway slabs that are 10 inches thick, we can take one of those processors and sit those slabs up on their end and just go through them like Pacman.”

Going to the next level

After nearly 15 years of success with his two BTI attachments, Trueman finally made the decision last year to purchase one more of each.

He says that in addition to giving him more processing capacity, working with BTI has also given him “complete accessibility” to maintenance and parts whenever he may need them. He says the company has also come in handy with advice on what tools to use for particular jobs.

Trueman says he now deploys the second pulverizer to stay on top of incoming loads. He notes that concrete slabs sometimes come in “at an alarming rate,” requiring the capacity of both excavators. He adds that at the speed his crusher works, the second pulverizer helps to keep up with its quick processing rate.

Beyond the improved processing capacity, Trueman says the investment has allowed Mamont Supply & Recycling to generate more profits—a win-win for him and his company.

“Having the two processors really picks up the pace. We’re essentially in the scrap business, too, so when we have three layers of rebar, and it’s not thick enough to really use a hammer, we attack with the pulverizers and just make a little job out of a great big opportunity,” Trueman says.

This article originally appeared in the November/December issue of Construction & Demolition Recycling magazine. The author is the assistant editor for Construction & Demolition Recycling and can be reached at tcottom@gie.net.

‘Tis the season for merrymaking, gift giving and goodwill. Alongside all the celebration that comes this time of year, the economy sees a major boost during the holidays as North America spends more money on consumable products. In the United States alone, seasonal retail sales in 2019 are expected to surpass $1 trillion for the first time. On average, seasonal retail sales represent about 20 percent of total annual retail sales, with some retailers bringing in up to 30 percent of their total annual revenue during the holidays.

So, while manufacturers have the ability (and responsibility) to supply the market with ecologically conscious purchasing options, let us not forget how much power we have as consumers. As individuals and communities, we have the power to vote with our dollars to help bridge the gap between end-of-life product management and sustainable design and production. This season, consider implementing your own sustainable purchasing strategies. Before you click the “Add to cart” button, ask yourself, “Are the products I’m buying made with recycled content and renewable resources that are sustainably sourced? Are they designed and manufactured to be durable and easily repairable? And are they easily broken down for recycling and material reuse?”

Moreover, we cannot forget our role as waste managers in this circular dynamic. In addition to our collective purchasing power and impact that we have as individual consumers, we also have the power as an industry to help maximize manufacturers’ use of post-consumer recycled materials in the production of new consumer goods by striving to deliver clean recycled commodities to market for remanufacturing. We can do this by reducing contamination in our own county, city or town’s recycling streams, providing access to education for our constituents on proper recycling methods, focusing our efforts to inspire new end markets, considering new (or enforcing current) waste diversion legislation, and actively marketing our incoming recycled commodities.

This season, we can ensure a sustainable future in which today’s wastes are tomorrow’s valued resources. It all comes down to doing our part to stimulate and promote demand for responsible manufacturing.

This appeared in the November/December issue of Waste Today. Gershman, Brickner & Bratton Inc. (GBB), www.gbbinc.com, is an international solid waste management consulting firm based in McLean, Virginia, that helps public and private sector organizations craft practical, customized and technically sound solutions for complex solid waste management challenges. Corinne Rico is a project manager at GBB and can be reached at crico@gbbinc.com.

Inductive Automation, Folsom, California, announced the software firm now recognizes SCS Engineers, Long Beach, California, as a Premier Integrator. According to Inductive Automation, Premier Integrators have a high level of commitment, professionalism and competency using the Ignition software. To be designated as a Premier Integrator, operators must consistently produce high-quality work and demonstrate successful projects with satisfied end-users.

SCS uses Inductive Automation’s Ignition supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) software to control, track, manage and report on their operations.

Large landfills, counties with multiple landfills, and private waste management firms have been waiting several years for SCADA software to catch up to their business needs, Inductive Automation says. Landfill operations are complex and expensive since operators need to monitor and manage multiple systems to protect the public from contamination in the air, water and soil. There are typically multiple processes that operators need to be cognizant of at these sites, including waste recovery, recycling, composting, gas collection and control systems (GCCS), and renewable energy plants.

SCS Remote Monitoring and Control, or SCS RMC, allows users to monitor and control these systems remotely, as well as see data collected and the systems in action. Other offered services include 3D imaging from drones and virtual reality (VR). SCS uses aerial data collected via drones to compose topographic mapping, 2D images, 3D renderings, GIS, thermal, infrared (IR), and methane leak detection for waste facilities.

Utilizing these tools, clients can save operating and monitoring (O&M) costs and reduce human error by generating internal and regulatory reports automatically, using data automatically collected by the system. They can also receive instant notification of malfunctions and can troubleshoot these notifications remotely.

The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) has announced that the United States and China have reached a “historic and enforceable agreement on a Phase One trade deal that requires structural reforms and other changes to China’s economic and trade regime in the areas of intellectual property, technology transfer, agriculture, financial services and currency and foreign exchange.”

The USTR says China also has committed to making “substantial additional purchases of U.S. goods and services in the coming years.”

The Phase One trade agreement also establishes a dispute resolution system “that ensures prompt and effective implementation and enforcement,” according to the USTR. 

“President Trump has focused on concluding a Phase One agreement that achieves meaningful, fully enforceable structural changes and begins rebalancing the U.S.-China trade relationship,” United States Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer says. “This unprecedented agreement accomplishes those very significant goals and would not have been possible without the president’s strong leadership.”

“Today’s announcement of a Phase One agreement with China is another significant step forward in advancing President Trump’s economic agenda,” says Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin. “Thanks to the president’s leadership, this landmark agreement marks critical progress toward a more balanced trade relationship and a more level playing field for American workers and companies.”

The United States first imposed tariffs on imports from China based on the findings of the Section 301 investigation into China’s acts, policies and practices related to technology transfer, intellectual property and innovation. The U.S. says it will maintain 25 percent tariffs on approximately $250 billion of Chinese imports, along with 7.5 percent tariffs on approximately $120 billion of Chinese imports.

The USTR released a “fact sheet” on the agreement

CBS News reports that of the nearly $500 billion in goods the U.S. imports from China every year, approximately $370 billion are currently subject to tariffs.

The deal, which was announced Dec. 13, forestalls further U.S. tariffs on an additional $160 billion in Chinese imports that were initially supposed to go into effect Sunday, Dec. 15, the news outlet reports.

On the issue of technology transfer, the agreement “sets out binding and enforceable obligations to address several of the unfair technology transfer practices of China that were identified in USTR’s Section 301 investigation,” the fact sheet notes. “For the first time in any trade agreement, China has agreed to end its long-standing practice of forcing or pressuring foreign companies to transfer their technology to Chinese companies as a condition for obtaining market access, administrative approvals or receiving advantages from the government.”

According to the fact sheet, the chapter on expanding trade “includes commitments from China to import various U.S. goods and services over the next two years in a total amount that exceeds China’s annual level of imports for those goods and services in 2017 by no less than $200 billion. China’s commitments cover a variety of U.S. manufactured goods, food, agricultural and seafood products, energy products, and services. China’s increased imports of U.S. goods and services are expected to continue on this same trajectory for several years after 2021 and should contribute significantly to the rebalancing of the U.S.-China trade relationship.”

CBS News reports, “Stocks have reacted tepidly to the U.S.-China trade deal,” and notes that it “expects the deal to provide a modest boost for U.S. economic growth next year.”

Others remain skeptical that a more substantial deal will be reached between the U.S. and China, according to CBS News. The news network quotes Robert Daly, director of Washington think tank the Kissinger Institute at the Wilson Center: “The fighters have retreated to their corners and may not return to the ring. The Trump administration is calling this 'Phase One' of a trade deal with China, but there is little reason to expect a Phase Two or Three. The Chinese side has already won a respite from continual American threats and appears to have done so without offering any terms it wasn't prepared to give in 2017.”