Big Plans

Anne and Tom Channell

Tom Channell doesn’t like limitations. A simple physical example of that is the 8-foot by 20-foot double-deck screen on his California Concrete Crushing Inc. processing system. "Could I have gotten by with a seven by 20, and maybe saved a little money?" he asks rhetorically. "Yes. But I don’t like limitations, so we got the bigger one."

He isn’t just limited to concrete recycling, as he expands his company’s reach into the mixed C&D recycling business as well, with an initially permitted 500-tons-per-day sorting facility planned to complement the current 1500-tons-per-day concrete recycling plant located in Sacramento.

All this comes on the heels of picking up an eight-year, $23 million trucking contract to haul materials, trash and recyclables for a Waste Management MRF. Oh, and by the way, there is the demolition company that was started first, Dynamic Demolition Inc.

Dynamic began a dozen years ago as the quintessential mom-and-pop operation, with Channell operating a Bobcat skid steer, a 7-cubic-yard dump truck, breaker and a couple of buckets, and his wife Anne worked as an operations supervisor at a local bank while also keeping the company’s books. She later left her career at the bank to run the operation from the couple’s dining room table.

Over time other employees and equipment were added. Growth was happening in phases, from soft demo and grocery store renovations ("I don’t advise anyone to do those, it is night work and very difficult," he says.) to the bigger jobs all demolition contractors covet.

Dynamic Demolition Inc. now has 10 to 15 employees, depending on the project. But like just about everywhere else, demolition is a competitive business, Channell says. "When the (San Francisco) Bay Area slows down, a lot of those guys are up here looking for work, and when it is slow here, we go down there looking for jobs."

It was six years ago at one of those big projects, taking down 850 homes for a new housing development at Mather Air Force Base, that Channell discovered the benefits of recycling. All the structures had been on concrete pads, and when he saw the size of the concrete pile being created, he immediately bid on the recycling segment of the project, even though he didn’t own a crusher.

Another established recycler got that job, but the experience proved to him the opportunity of concrete recycling. "Why take this valuable resource to a dump when you can reuse it?" he says. "I felt this would be a good way to diversify." He took some of the money made from the project and invested in his first crushing equipment. The company formed to use that machinery was called California Concrete Crushing, but it was just a trade name of Dynamic. It grew to the point where it was split off into its own corporation, and today it has about 20 employees working with two crushing spreads and two facilities. A satellite facility is located in nearby Rancho Cordova, Calif.

The crushing operation’s main yard is located in an industrial area on the edge of Sacramento, with the plant operating on 7.25 acres of land.

The primary crusher is a 30-inch by 62-inch Lippmann-Milwaukee jaw unit, with a Dings magnet located downstream. Next in line is the aforementioned screen, the 8-foot by 20-foot Cedarapids double-deck, followed by a Cedarapids 450 cone secondary crusher.

Naturally, Channell says he wants to upgrade that to a bigger 550 model. Another Dings magnet is between the screen and the cone. Everything is electrically powered but runs off a Caterpillar XQ1000 diesel power genset.

The system is fed by a Caterpillar 980 wheel loader with a 7-cubic-yard bucket. "Sometimes we feed it with two loaders," says Channell. "It doesn’t really need two, but one can’t keep up." Sometimes there are three loaders for heavy load times and when clean-up is needed.

Those loaders, like most of the Channell’s mobile equipment, are all Caterpillar. "We don’t believe in buying used equipment," he says. "Some people do and are good at it. I am not. We buy brand new and get warranties. Cat maintains all of our mobile equipment, including all the service. It costs a little more money, but saves a lot of headaches. Now I can spend more of my time thinking about what to do next."

The whole concrete recycling system can be knocked down to less than 13 feet, 6 inches for travel. Channell says Lippmann designed the heavy jaw so the feeder does not have to be removed to move it.

It takes two to three days and 12 loads to move the large plant, so California Concrete Crushing prefers big, 50,000-or-more-ton jobs to make it worth the move. That is why the company has both mobilization-in-and-out fees. The company is currently purchasing a smaller track-style crushing spread to accommodate the growing need of recycling from 3,000-ton to 25,000-ton projects.

The demolition company’s equipment lineup includes three Bobcat skid-steers with hammers and a grapple. The big pieces include a Caterpillar 320 hydraulic material handler with a 5,000-pound Model 60 Rammer hammer; a Cat 345 hydraulic handler with 12,000-pound Rammer City 110 hammer; and a Caterpillar 385 hydraulic handler, with a mount that allows for the exchange of the hammers and a Stanley Labounty shear. "We buy quality equipment," says Channell, "because we plan on being around for a long time."

The trucking company, named Stellar Trucking Inc., has semi-trucks with possum bellies, walking floors, low-side end dumps, 60-cubic-yard and 84-cubic-yard capacity high side end dumps. They also have two roll-off trucks and their own Cozad heavy haul transport.

They are hauling wood to Waste Management’s K&M recycling facility in Sacramento, commingled recyclables to WM’s Lodi facility and trash to the company’s Lockwood, Nev., landfill. The metal will go to a local scrap yard and the concrete, naturally, to California Concrete Crushing Inc.

Despite being competitors, the local demolition companies and others with their own crushing plants have had no problem supplying California Concrete Crushing with concrete infeed material, and probably won’t hesitate to supply mixed C&D, Channell says.

"We have taken concrete to our competitors. I am not going to drive past a competitor’s facility just because he’s a competitor, if it’s going to cost me more money," Channel says. "Most contractors with good business sense are that way."

That doesn’t mean the competition can’t be cutthroat. All the concrete recycling facilities in the area were charging a tipping fee some time ago. Then a new plant opened near the Sacramento port and it charged nothing to dump. "That messed up the market," Channell says. "Everyone was staying on the freeway and going down to the port facility to dump. So another guy stopped charging, then someone else, but they still charged for oversize. So we decided not to charge for anything, including oversize, and our yard is always full." He adds that because natural aggregate prices have been escalating rapidly in recent years, it is still economically feasible to recycle concrete with no tipping fee.

The concrete crushing site is a fully permitted solid waste facility, not just a recycling plant. This is where the mixed C&D recycling facility will be located and the concrete recycling plant will be moved to an adjacent 6-acre plot.

Plans are to start small with a dump and sort operation on the concrete pad with a rapid escalation to a full state of the art sorting line, says Channell. A California state pollution control fund will be the source of funding for the new mixed C&D recycling plant called "C & D Recycling Inc."

Channell says products from the recycling activities will be as value-added as possible to increase profit potential. For example, wood will be ground on site, and color mulch will be made. "Whatever we can do to make the most out of it as a resource and in income, that is our goal," he says.

The company’s five-year goal is to be fully diversified with the "number one, safest, cleanest operation in our community," in Channell’s words. "We are taking the high road, doing the right thing. There is such a growing need for C&D recyclers, and it is a great business."

More information about recycling or any of the "Channell Companies" is available from Anne Channell, president and vice president of operations, at 916-933-6600 or at anne@cdrecycling.com.