A million-dollar machine is keeping old concrete out of Ōpōtiki’s landfill, and instead turning it into filler for building sites and roading jobs.

Waiotahi Contractors’ manager Spike Petersen said concrete from old foothpaths in Ōpōtiki was being stockpiled at his company’s Woodlands metal pit until it was being run through a $1 million machine from Ireland.

“We’re using a 58-tonne McCloskey Impacter – and this is the first time we have been recycling concrete,” he said.

“The old concrete is being crushed into quality gap 40 aggregate.”

Petersen said the machine had a strong magnet that separated out the steel from the reinforced concrete.

The recycled concrete was being used as filler material at building sites and roading jobs.

“There are restrictions on metal extraction from rivers, plus the cost of finding good quality rocks in quarries can be prohibitive,” Petersen said.

“So, there’s a growing demand for quality aggregate.

“After the first lockdown, we replaced lots of footpaths in Ōpōtiki.”

Credit: Ōpōtiki News