New Cirwinn debris separation plant commissioned

On Wednesday, Oct. 30, Cirwinn's new rubble separation plant was inaugurated under the watchful eye of Alderman Jan Hoek of Sustainability, Mobility and Democratic Renewal of Almere.

This debris separation plant allows for high quality reuse of concrete rubble. In the plant, concrete rubble is scrubbed, classified, washed and sieved. This releases granulate and two types of sand, which are used as secondary building materials for the production of sustainable concrete. In this way, the highest quality new concrete is made from concrete rubble. The new rubble separation plant can also be used for the upcycling of roofing gravel and railroad ballast.

Alexander Pouw, director of the Theo Pouw Group and shareholder of Cirwinn: "In this way, we put the concrete rubble back into the chain in the highest possible quality. What is unique is that we are putting 100 % back into the chain: In sustainable concrete, often only concrete granulate is reused in a high-grade way, but this way we can also reuse the sand in a high-grade way."

Alexander Pouw, managing director Theo Pouw Group and Almere alderman Jan Hoek Jan Hoek of Sustainability, Mobility and Democratic Renewal.

The sustainable concrete is used, among other things, for the bridges at the Floriade and in the construction of green bicycle paths in the Municipality of Almere. At the Cirwinn site there are some 20,000 tons of concrete rubble that can be reused in a high-quality manner. The concrete rubble from the Almere region comes from such sources as bridge skeletons, balconies, foundations and production remnants from the factory and from the environmental street

Cirwinn is a partner of the Raw Materials Collective Almere (GCA), which focuses on developing raw materials from waste. The GCA also coordinates circular projects. In 2017, Cirwinn won the Upcycle City competition of the municipality of Almere, made possible by the Almere 2.0 program. This invited ideas for a circular solution for waste streams from the city to stimulate new economic activity. Part of the winning plan was the sustainable concrete plant. With this debris separation plant, the production of concrete from this plant will be made more sustainable.