Considered a leader in sustainability amongst major U.S. cities, Portland, Ore., has developed cost-effect methods to recycle haul-back materials — generated from street maintenance operations — and reuse them for daily repair work conducted by the city’s maintenance department.

Portland’s haul-back material recycling program is conducted at its Sunderland Recycling Facility, where 30,000 to 50,000 cu. yds. (22,937 to 38,228 cu m) of concrete and asphalt-laden materials are processed annually, according to the Portland Bureau of Transportation.

Early this year the facility’s processing capabilities were expanded, as Tualatin, Ore.-based Construction Equipment Company (CEC) streamlined the facility’s product handling/preparation operations by combining the separate processes into one. The streamlining and efficiency upgrade was part of a $500,000 design and build contract that included the design and installation of new equipment and alterations to existing facility equipment.

The services conducted by CEC enabled the facility to process a typical year’s worth of materials during the first four months of this year, according to Gary Smith, owner of CEC.

The main service involved the re-working of the facility’s yard flow, which included the integration of crushing and scalping processes to eliminate double handling of materials.

To achieve this, CEC built and installed a new 133 by 152 ft. (40.5 by 46.3 m) horizontal shaft impact crusher — with a customized 4.3 by 20 ft. (1.3 by 6.1 m) vibrating Grizzly feeder and separate conveyor for scalped material — and installed a new, company-built 2.5 by 60 ft. (0.8 by 18.3 m) stacking conveyor, and an Okada-brand processor for initial material prep.

CEC also custom designed a feeder system that removes any dirt from the system and takes it directly to an existing 5 by 12 ft. (1.5 by 3.7 m) Screen-It for dirt removal, scalping, and rock recovery. The rock is then fed back into the crushing circuit.

As part of the facility redesign, CEC used and made alterations to the facility’s existing 5 by 16 ft. (1.5 by 4.9 m), three Deck El-Jay finish screen and several conveyors.

Asphalt processed at the Sunderland facility is typically over-sized and requires some downsizing to make it usable for the production of rock. The asphalt is mixed with concrete as it is fed into the crushing machine to ensure an end product that meets construction specifications. Concrete chunks brought to the facility are downsized and mixed with asphalt as it is fed through the crushing machine to make 1.5 in. (3.8 cm) minus aggregate.

Construction Equipment Company provides portable rock crushing and screening equipment for the aggregate, recycle, compost and wood waste industries. The company is currently known for manufacturing the largest screen machine in the world.

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