Urbanisation and population growth, has led to a tremendous increase in construction activities including new buildings, roads and civil infrastructure, resulting in the generation of massive amounts of construction and demolition waste around the world. The construction and demolition (C&D) sector has been identified as the largest waste generator in the Middle East. It is estimated that C&D waste accounts for more than 50 percent of all waste generated in the region.

Countries around the globe have realised the magnitude of the problem and various governments have been formulating strategies for responsible management of this waste stream. For instance, in the UAE, the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment had issued the Ministerial Resolution No. 21 of 2019 on the use of recycled aggregates from C&D waste. The resolution outlined the prerequisites for recycling cement, concrete, bricks, gravel, sand, etc. into new, high-value materials for relevant projects. Saudi Arabia’s strategy is to achieve the goal of diverting 60 percent of C&D waste from landfills by 2035 in line with its effort to accelerate the transition to a circular economy.

Waste to value

Large quantities of C&D waste are mixed with other types of waste, which renders it unsuitable for recycling, resulting in waste being taken to landfill sites and losing opportunities to recover valuable resources. C&D waste recycling is a profitable and eco-friendly way to produce aggregates and reuse valuable materials that would otherwise be disposed. It also leads to less transportation needs and dumping costs.

C&D waste consists of economically valuable materials such as reusable aggregates, sand, concrete, bitumen, cardboard and paper, ferrous and non-ferrous metals, plastics and wood. While certain components might have a high resource value and others might be of a lower value, all these materials can easily be repurposed into new products or used with virgin construction materials or even in waste to energy production as approved by local authorities. The required technology and expertise in C&D waste recycling is now well within our reach.

Northern Ireland has been extremely successful in establishing one of the world’s most successful clusters of engineering companies that develop state-of-the-art equipment and machinery for export globally. The region has, over the years, become the global manufacturing centre of choice for mobile bulk materials processing equipment and this expertise has extended into waste recycling equipment. Northern Ireland is now home to a cluster of very dynamic and innovative companies who manufacture static and mobile solutions for a range of waste streams.

Northern Ireland companies specialise in the production of mobile and portable equipment to treat construction and demolition (C&D) waste and other waste streams such as commercial and industrial (C&I) waste and turning them into separate valuable materials. It is easy to move around or relocate this equipment whenever needed.

Design and manufacturing excellence of Northern Ireland based companies have been recognised and requested for various construction & demolition (C&D) waste recycling projects, and some excellent examples of their design and manufacturing capabilities can be seen in the Middle East region.

McCloskey: McCloskey’s range of crushers, trommels, scalping screeners and shredders have been contributing to waste and C&D recycling operations around the world. In the Middle East, re-using excavated material from mega infrastructure projects is a key role for their equipment as it is durable and reliable across the toughest applications and materials.

McCloskey recently developed a new offering for the C&D waste recycling market - the VTS95 - a primary shredder particularly suited to construction and demolition waste. The shredder features an extremely aggressive knife design and an open cutting table offering a range of knives for different types of waste.

Product R&D in this sector is ongoing at McCloskey to meet the growing requirements for recycling, continually looking ahead to the future of waste management.

CDE Global: For nearly 30 years, CDE’s innovative, customised wet processing solutions have enabled customers around the world to recycle and reuse construction, demolition and excavation waste materials.  

They have delivered over 100 C&D waste recycling projects globally and together with their customers, diverted over 85 million tonnes of waste material from landfill sites – creating valuable materials for use in construction products and turning waste into resources.

TESAB Engineering: Tesab is widely renowned for their range of heavy duty, built to last Crushers. Established over 25 years ago, the company has vast experience in the manufacture of equipment for C&D waste recycling, quarrying, asphalt and concrete industries.  

They have expanded their range steadily over the years and now compliment their Crushers with a wide range of Screeners & Trackstack Bulk Handling Systems to provide customers with a complete solution for any job.

Tesab have a number of machines currently spread throughout the Middle East & Africa including Saudi Arabia, Oman, Algeria, Ghana, South Africa and more.

About Invest Northern Ireland

Invest Northern Ireland (Invest NI) is the economic development agency for Northern Ireland. Invest NI’s resources are focused on assisting their clients to help explore new markets, improve competitiveness, increase innovation, promote a stronger international focus and create more positive attitudes to enterprise. Invest NI promotes inward investment and trade with the region from an extensive network of overseas offices including Dubai, Jeddah and Doha.

If you have any queries or would like to know more about Northern Ireland companies active in the C&D waste recycling sector, please get in touch with: amit.jain@investni.com or visit www.investni.com/imea