C&D Waste Processing in India – Delhi Shows the Way

Mr. Chiranjib Banerjee, CDE Asia Limited.

Present Scenario

India produces 10-12 million tonnes of Construction, Demolition, and Excavation waste material annually. The traditional practice in India is to dispose of this waste in landfills or illegally dump in rivers and water bodies. Faced with growing environmental concerns and lack of landfill space, Delhi has taken another great step to start India's second and most advanced C&D Waste recycling plant near Shastri Park, under East Delhi Municipal Corporation.

As per the Central Public Health & Environmental Engineering Organization (CPHEEO), the Indian Real Estate Industry alone is facing a shortage of aggregates to the extent of 55,000 million cum. In addition, 750 million cum of aggregates would be required to achieve the targets of road construction sector, which will lead to tremendous pressure on natural resources.

Delhi alone produces more than 4000 tonnes of C&D Waste and due to improper disposal, this waste is choking storm water drains and polluting the Yamuna river bed.

To address the above issues and understanding the need and opportunity available to do value addition with the C&D Waste Material, IL&FS Environmental Infrastructure & Services Limited (IL&FS EISL) chose CDE Asia as its preferred technological partner to Design, Manufacture and Supply of the first C&D Waste recycling plant in India back in 2012. A 500 tonnes per day (TPD) capacity C&D Waste processing plant was set in Burari, New Delhi.

Last 3 years of operation and successful implementation of first C&D Waste plant in Delhi generated enough interest among other Urban Local Body (ULB), to plan similar facility for every major city in India. The Clean India campaign of Govt. of India further reinforces the need of similar facilities across all major cities, to get rid of illegal dumping of C&D Waste either in lands or in rivers or blocking large stretches of land resources. The ever growing needs of construction land and construction material close to the heart of city are going to be in high demand. Establishment of multiple numbers of small to medium capacity C&D Waste recycling facility within close proximity of demolition and construction site, should be an excellent economically viable solution for City Municipalities as well as to any enterprising organization who wish to invest for a profitable venture from Waste recycling.

The Success Story of First C&D Waste Recycling Plant

IL&FS IESL has successfully operated and handled large volume of C&D Waste in its Burari plant and produced many value added products from recycled sand and aggregate. The success of this first plant further reinforced its belief in waste management and commitment towards society. Due to the success of the first plant, IL&FS EISL has invested considerable effort to promote second unit of C&D Waste recycling plant in East Delhi, near Shastri Park under East Delhi Municipal Corporation. As an outcome of successful recycling facility and need of more C&D Waste recycling facilities in future, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate change has issued a notification, withdrawing the need of public hearing for MoEF clearance for establishment of C&D Waste processing facilities. Other necessary clearance from ULB or State Pollution Control Board. In a Recent move, the Delhi Government has issued an advisory on the use of the products made out of recycled waste by the Public Works Department (PWD). All Delhi Government agencies will be required to incorporate a clause in their tenders that mandates the use of a minimum of 2 percent recycled products from construction waste in all future contracts for building works and 10% recycled products for road works.

Implementation of the second C&D Waste recycling plant in Delhi

CDE is having rich and world wide experience in the processing of C&D Waste materials. The second C&D Waste recycling plant in Delhi (presently under commissioning process) will experience a quantum jump in technological advancement in C&D Waste recycling as compared to the first plant. The designing of this 500 tpd capacity C&D recycling capacity facility of Shastri Park was a challenge due to space constraints. IL&FS IESL had thrown a challenge to design the recycling plant within a narrow strip of land measuring about 25 mtrs. The experienced engineers of CDE have made it possible to achieve this and saved adequate space for other processes. Compact and modular design of CDE equipment can be installed in small space which makes it suitable to be used to establish C&D Waste washing plant within the heart of the city.

The new recycling plant consists of the following technologies :

1. Feed Hopper with Vibrating Grizzly Feeder
2. EvoScreen® - Pre Screen
3. RotoMax® - Log Washer for Aggregate cleaning
4. Trash Screen for removal of light weights
5. ProGrade® - Sizing Screen for washed Aggregate
6. EvoWash®-Dual Pass Hydrocyclone system for Sand washing
7. AquaCycle® - Water Management system for recycling of process water

Characteristics of C&D Waste

Though it is very difficult to predict the characteristics of C&D Waste, it can broadly be categorised as mixture of following materials:

Major components
- Cement concrete, Bricks, Cement Plaster
- Steel (from RCC, door/window frames, roofing support, railings of staircase etc.)
- Rubble, Stone (marble, granite, sand stone)
- Timber/wood (especially demolition of old buildings)
- Clay (Soil from excavation)

Minor components
- Conduits (iron, plastic), Pipes (GI, Iron, Plastic)
- Electrical fixtures (copper/aluminium wiring, wooden baton, Bakelite / plastic switches, wire insulation)
- Panels (wooden, laminated)
- Others (glazed tiles, glass panes)
- Plastic carry bags, sachets of tobacco and other plastics, Clothes, Cement bags, gunny bags, Thermocol, etc.

Among the above components, the most unpredictable and difficult materials are Clay (Soil) and all types of floating materials like plastic carry bags, sachets, thermocol etc. CDE Recycling Technology has provided the solutions to tackle these difficult materials and make C&D Waste an acceptable quality product for re-use.

Applications

Recycled Sand	Recycled Aggregate

Future ready technical solutions from CDE for Clean India

CDE has been promoting the idea of C&D Waste recycling for long across the globe and is a pioneer in many countries in Europe in successfully implement C&D recycling facilities. CDE Global is winner of Recognition Award from European Quality Association for Recycling in 2015. The advanced processing techniques of CDE Global is available in India to support 3 major campaigns of Govt. of India – Clean India, Make in India and Smart Cities of India. The equipment for recycling are manufactured from CDE's Indian Production facilities. CDE Asia is always a few step ahead of its understanding the need of Indian Cities, has developed two models of C&D recycling plants both for small and large capacities.

CDE ReUrban™ Mini is having a capacity of 30 tph and mainly used for production of recycled sand whereas CDE ReUrban™ Prime is a full scale version for production of high quality recycled aggregates and sand. It has a capacity of 50 Tons per hour.

CDE has dedicated its latest advancement to create 'value from waste' and make Indian cities smarter and healthier.

Uses of C&D Waste Recycled Materials

Rapid infrastructural development such as highways, airports etc. and growing demand for housing has led to scarcity & rise in cost of construction materials. Most of waste materials produced by demolished structures are disposed off by dumping them as land fill. Dumping of wastes on land is causing shortage of dumping places in urban areas. Therefore, it is necessary to start recycling and re-use of demolition and concrete waste to save environment, cost, and energy.

Central Pollution Control Board has estimated current quantum of solid waste generation in India to the tune of 48 million tons per annum out of which, waste from construction industry only accounts for more than 25%. Management of such high quantum of waste puts enormous pressure on solid waste management system.

In view of significant role of recycled construction material and technology in the development of urban infrastructure, TIFAC has conducted a techno-market survey on 'Utilization of Waste from Construction Industry' targeting housing/building and road segment. The total quantum of waste from construction industry is estimated to be 12 to 15 million tons per annum out of which 7-8 million tons are concrete and brick waste.

The following products can be recovered from recycling:

1. Recovery of washed sand for construction
2. Recovery of 2-3 sizes of mixed Aggregates
3. RMC made with recovered material
4. Value-added products like Kerb Stones, Pavement Blocks, Concrete Bricks etc.

These products made from recycled material were tested in various laboratories and found to be suitable for specified purposes. Today, these products are actually being sold in the market bringing extremely high return to the investor.