The long run: Ewles Materials builds on a 35-year history in the Orange County roadbase market.

Need some recycled aggregate in California's Orange County? Chances are Ewles Materials has it in stock. Chances are that if you had wanted it anytime in the past 35 years, Ewles would have had it then, as well.

That's because Ewles Materials set up its first concrete/asphalt recycling facility in 1970 in Stanton, Calif., where it keeps its corporate headquarters. At that time, the long-time Construction Materials Recycling Association (CMRA) member also was a general engineering contractor. But by 1979, when it opened its second recycling site in Irvine, it abandoned that part of the business to focus on being the biggest producer of roadbase in Orange County.

GROWING UP

It seems to have reached that goal. Currently the company operates four sites, all in the populous county, and produces about 1.5 million tons of recycled product every year. It is going through the approval process for a fifth site, which should only increase this total.

Almost all of this production is from those sites. Ewles Materials operates four crushing spreads, two of which don't move from their respective Stanton and Irvine operations. The other two are portable, but mostly stay in the company's other sites in San Juan Capistrano and Murietta.

"Our plants thrive on the 10- to 15-mile radius around them. We don't chase the portable business," says Dave Ewles, the second generation recycler who is a principal in the firm. "Many other companies do a good job of that in Southern California."

What Ewles Materials does do well, he says, is take care of its market. "That has been our selling point for as long as we have been in business. People know that they can call us up, get a quote on the product, and know that quote is good three, four, six months later. They know we will have the material and that we have the trucks to deliver it to them."

Those trucks are something the company added in 1985 as away to improve its full service capabilities. The dedicated trucking service to deliver Ewles Materials' products has grown to the point where it is a major part of the business. The trucks only deliver, they do not bring back raw feed. The company's 12 trucks are sometimes augmented by owner-operators on an as-needed basis, and of course, many customers just bring in their own hauling vehicles.

There is almost always material for them to pick up, says Ewles. "All of our sites usually have material on the ground. We market ourselves as a materials company, not a crushing company. We obviously have crushers to produce our products, but people can call us up, day or night, and get product."

TOOLS OF THE TRADE

The four crushing spreads Ewles Materials does have are all jaw/cone combinations, and all Metso or Nordberg machines.

Ewles Materials' newest plant is a portable Metso with a 30-by-55-inch jaw with an HP 400 cone crusher, capable of processing 500 tons per hour. These two are teamed with a 3-by-20-foot triple-deck screen, a Caterpillar 980H loader and a Superior telescoping belt. These last items are two of the reasons Dave Ewles feels this plant is one of the highest production units in Southern California.

This was proven at one of the portable jobs the company did in 2005: 175,000 tons at a construction site for one of the biggest developers in the country. There, the company was able to run its plant and stack the entire finished pile on the four acres it was given to operate on, thanks to the stacking belt.

Ewles also believes the company was able to run it efficiently because of the Caterpillar 980H. "Most guys will feed a plant that size with the larger 988, but the 988 is more difficult to transport. The "H" model is a nice loader, with an increase in power and a little bigger bucket. We think the 980H is a good match for the plant," he says.

MANAGING THE MARKET

Recycled aggregate has been a good match for Southern California, Ewles believes. That's because the area is running out of accessible aggregate reserves, and has been for years. "Back in the 1970s and early 1980s it became apparent that natural resources were going to dry up, especially for aggregate base," he says. "That is the low end of the food chain. We used to own a sand and gravel pit in Nevada, so we know a little bit about natural aggregate. You should save your aggregate for concrete and asphalt rock; it's a higher value, and you get a higher price. That is what the quarry owners in Southern California have been focusing on."

It's a good thing that recycling of concrete and asphalt took off in that time, Ewles adds. "If recyclers such as ourselves, as well as some other companies in Southern California, hadn't stepped forward and started making the roadbase, millions upon millions of tons of waste would have been sent to the landfills. The cost of materials is so high now, but it would be at least 30 percent to 40 percent higher if progressive thinking recyclers hadn't started up."

It has been a good business over that time, too. "In Orange County, unless it is a specially designed job, in just about every street and parking lot we have used recycled aggregates for 20 years. There is not enough aggregate out there to satisfy the demand."

It is a demand that stays unabated today. According to Ewles, "Currently, for the first time in a decade, we have had every segment of the construction market busy at once--commercial, residential and industrial." This stretches all the way from San Diego up to the Inland Empire region. Especially strong, he says, has been the housing market, which is the driver for everything, because once the homes are built, they will need malls, schools, roads, etc., to support them.

This still doesn't mean communities are welcoming recycling sites with open arms, even though they need the products. Everybody says they like recycling, but not if it is near them.

It doesn't help that there are fly-by-nights who come in, operate noisily and dirty and leave a bad impression with the public. These operations may or may not be permitted, and that is not fair to legitimate operations such as Ewles Materials, Dave Ewles contends. "But it is getting better," he says. "Cities are realizing that it is quite a mess to clean up if these guys abandon their sites." All he asks for is the common wish of all good recyclers, that the regulations be enforced on a level playing field.

Ewles wonders if the regulations are applied equally when it comes to ready-mix plants. He has seen some buy a crusher and enter the concrete/asphalt recycling business, thinking they can at least handle their own washout, and so they are permitted to do concrete/asphalt recycling. "They seem to get through the process a lot easier than recyclers like us."

Concrete/asphalt recycling's future in Southern California should remain strong, Ewles says, and marketing will help. To that end, the company has set up a Web site, www.ewlesmaterials.com. These types of moves show professionalism, and people like working with professional people, he adds. "Just because we are in recycling doesn't mean we are a bunch of farmers," he says.

Ewles also expects recyclers to expand their product offerings more in coming years. Currently, one of the company's sites offers backfill sand and pea gravel made from recycled concrete. But he is really big on recycled concrete in new concrete and asphalt, especially when used for concrete aggregate. "In the next l0 years there will be lots of opportunities to expand the use of recycled concrete and asphalt," he says.

The author is associate publisher of Construction & Demolition Recycling and the executive director of the Construction Materials Recycling Association. He can be reached at [e-mail].