Episode XI A reasonable request of asphalt recyclers
Like I said in an earlier episode, asphalt is one of the most recycled materials around. A lot of people and machinery are labelled asphalt recyclers. But the ultimate goal of recycling whole asphalt without burning the asphalt cement (AC) is sought by few and attained by fewer still. There are several manufacturers who claim to master the process, but they seem to compromise heavily on heating time vs. quality of asphalt produced.
Blinded by speed they’ve lost sight of the original goal, which was to recycle 100% of the asphalt including the AC. Speed was never the most important criteria, we already know how much patch asphalt our crews can handle in a day. The first rule of environmental stewardship is REDUCE; we should not handle or recycle more material than is required. We are going to look at one of these popular recyclers in action and see if they meet any of the criteria for proper asphalt stewardship.
In my opinion, one of the worst offenders on the market is the Bagela brand. I think it is one of the most environmentally offensive pieces of machinery ever foisted on the public at any price. Watch their youtube videos, these so called recyclers are environmental nightmares. The design is all bad but let’s start with the fuel source. It is a kerosene fired burner heating asphalt which is rotating in a drum. Asphalt chunks are batch fed from a hopper to the drum and discharged at the opposite end through a slit in the drum (Bagela, Youtube). We already eliminated this fuel due to its inefficiency, higher emission levels, fluctuating cost and safety concerns.
Environmental mini disasters made easy: Lets look at their proposed work methodology, it is just not viable. They expect one to load the old asphalt into a dump truck, or two, deliver it to and dump it in traffic on the street near the repair site then unload a front end loader from another truck and trailer, pick up the asphalt which has been dumped in the street and load it a bit at a time into the recycler, all this while the loader negotiates surrounding traffic. Loaded and heated, one bucket at a time until enough material has been produced for the patch. Oh and don’t forget to preheat the recycler once you get to the job because you don’t want the crew standing around waiting for asphalt any longer than they have to, do you? Mind you, all that dumping, loading and unloading will surely take a while. When in full view of the public the methodology becomes obviously unsustainable, the manufacturer suggests that the machine’s operation be restricted to the yard. This doesn’t reduce pollution rather just the number of irate taxpayers. Out of sight, out of mind, as it were. This is methodology is clearly unsustainable and in my opinion the antithesis of good environmental stewardship.
But their greatest sin are the clouds of dense blue smoke produced by force heating the asphalt. It pours out from both ends of this so called recycler. These trailer mounted machines often escape existing clean air regulations because they are not considered permanent installations. I doubt that their operation, as is, would never be tolerated if they were considered as asphalt plants; they would surely be required to install large air filters. Bagela is allowed to pollute our air with impunity while having the effrontery to suggest it is all for the good of our environment.
I see good environmental stewardship as follows: One should be able to arrive on the jobsite with the asphalt already heated and of sufficient quantity for the repair, immediately and without auxiliary machinery, unload the recycled hot mix and then move on to the next repair.
A two man crew working cleanly and quietly with as little impact as possible on the taxpayers health, wealth and enjoyment of their community is hardly an unattainable goal, it happens every day. The choice is yours. This is just one man’s opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?
