Recycling: from waste to resource

Thanks to the innovative use of a FAE MTH, materials destined for disposal become a resource.

The recycling of materials destined for disposal is a very topical issue and probably the only solution to avoid the continuous exploitation of our natural resources. An Italian company, Marchesi Movimento Terra in Pianoro (Bologna), has developed MPS 0-63, a high performing mixture to use for road construction made of inert aggregates from the recovery of construction waste.

The creation of the new material began when the Marchesi company received the request for an important order: supplying approximately 26,000 m3 of material to use for the construction of the body of the road embankment as part of an important infrastructure project. Marchesi, which deals with the processing of inert materials and has a platform for the recovery and enhancement of construction and road waste, decided to offer the client an alternative solution: the use of a new recycled material.

With the use of an FAE MTH, inert waste (for example cement, brick and tiles) is homogeneously milled and supplemented with hydraulic binder in order to obtain a finished material that will give optimal performance. The advantage is twofold: in addition to the undeniable ecological value, we must also consider the lower cost of this recycled material when compared to traditional materials.

Use of the FAE MTH multi-function machine was crucial to the success of the operation. Two months of work were needed to process all the material, during which the MTH guaranteed the processing of approximately 1,000 m3 of material per day. Production constancy and machine reliability were undoubtedly the most appreciated features during this phase of the work.

The new material subsequently underwent physical and mechanical tests, with the creation of a test field, to verify the load-bearing properties and evaluate the workability and whether the designed mixture could be reproduced in the plant.

The excellent quality of the material, validated when it passed all the technical tests, has therefore allowed the adoption of MPS-0-63 by the Customer and the Contractor.

However, the production of recycled materials for road construction will not be a one-off for this company: a second job with similar specifications is already in the pipeline. In this case, however, the recycled material will be used for the construction of a 4 km long bicycle path near Bologna.