Noida’s demolished twin towers’ debris to be used to make bricks, tiles

Building material will be made from the 80,000 tonnes of debris of Emerald Court, the illegally constructed twin towers demolished by explosives in August in Noida, likely solving a concrete problem for the environment.

Two companies are working to dispose of the concrete, bricks, tiles and steel. Edifice Engineering will pick up 350 tonnes of iron and steel, and Hyderabad-based waste management company Re Sustainability and Recycling Pvt Ltd will handle the rest of the debris.

Edifice demolished the towers for a sum of Rs 17.5 crore from Supertech, the company that built the towers in Sector 93. The sale proceeds will be deducted from Rs 17.5 crore, and the remaining amount will be given by Supertech. However, it was not clear how much the company would earn from the steel-and-iron scrap.

“First of all, steel and iron will be separated by taking the debris to the plant. After that we will break the steel and iron into 250 mm pieces and give them to the Noida Authority. There is also a system to recycle and reroll the steel,” said Utkarsh Mehta, partner at Edifice, referring to the state agency that governs the Uttar Pradesh city.

Mehta said his team works all over India to sell recycled steel from 20 branches. The company has rolling mills and traders who sell their products.

Once the iron is removed, the concrete and other rubble will be used to make brickbat, bricks and tiles. About 28,000 tonnes of tiles lie in Edifice’s rubble: Re Sustainability will take up the work to dispose of them. The company has a concrete and demolition plant in Noida for tiles. The 5-acre plant has an agreement with the Noida Authority till 2034.

Mukesh Dhiman, project head at the plant, said the company charges a processing fee of Rs 156 per tonne to dispose of debris. “From the processing fee itself, the company deducts the cost of its employees, equipment, operating cost and electricity,” he said. A team of 42 people works at the plant.

Dhiman said that about 30,000 tonnes of debris from Emerald will come to the plant. Some 50,000 tonnes of debris will be buried, and the rest will come to the plant later. The plant, which has a processing capacity of 850 tonnes per day, manufactures 2,500 tiles daily, and it can scale up to 5,000 tiles. The plant receives about 350 tonnes of debris daily from Noida and recycles 95 per cent. About 300 tonnes of Edifice debris come daily to the plant to be processed in two shifts.

Cheaper building material

Dhiman said that during processing, 10, 20 and 40 million of manufacturing sand and core sand are generated. Of these, tiles are made from 10 and 20 million of sand. The company’s tiles, branded as ‘Re Sustainability’, are 30 per cent cheaper. They are roughly priced at Rs 18 per tile. If the government agrees to buy tiles, they will be sold in bulk at Rs 12 per tile.

About 40 million sand is used for making roads, sidewalks and plain cement concrete (PCC). Dhiman said such sand is used for low-weight construction materials, such as flooring, plaster and bricks. It cannot be used for laying roofs. This sand and concrete prepared during processing will also reach the market at a price of Rs 200 per tonne.

The processing begins with the vehicle carrying the debris being weighed. The debris is then sprinkled with water so that the dust does not fly away during crushing. If dust forms, it is hosed with fog guns. The debris is then dumped into a hopper, where about 20 tonnes of debris is broken into smaller pieces. A screener separates the plastic, wood and steel. This is followed by the process of hydrocyclones, in which sand is released.

About 70,000 litres of water is consumed daily during the entire process, but 70 per cent of that is reused. The plant has four pits, where the used water drains and is used repeatedly by means of a motor. According to instructions from the Noida authority, the plant has to use sewage water.