In the near future

The start of a new year is always a good time to take stock and look to the future, and this issue of Construction & Demolition Recycling is packed with stories that do just that.

Staton Cos., the Eugene, Oregon-based demolition firm featured in this issue’s cover profile, consistently has kept an eye on the future, implementing innovative solutions as it’s grown from a mom-and-pop operation to a leading demolition firm in the Pacific Northwest. Read more about the company’s plans to grow its scrap yard while building on its reputation as an expert in structural demolition in "Smarter, faster, safer."

In the “Smaller scale” feature, Recycling Today Media Group Senior Editor Brian Taylor explores the future of compact equipment offerings, spotlighting new models that allow for expanded interior demolition or improved navigation in tight footprints. Whether contractors need to engage in interior dismantling work or clear sites for new construction, manufacturers design machinery to accommodate their demands.

In the future, we can expect rock crushers to become smaller, more portable and more affordable. Small portable crushing plants are a growing market detailed in “On the move.” A crush-on-site business model with a small, portable crusher brings numerous benefits, from reduced costs and increased productivity to enhanced sustainability and improved quality.

In construction and demolition (C&D) recycling plants across the country, operators are entering the new year with a renewed commitment to finding the right mix of human labor and automation. In “Finding the right balance,” operators discuss ramping optical sorters and other auto-mated solutions back up years after earlier efforts to incorporate robotics in the C&D environment proved to be hit or miss.

In "Will construction thrive or dive in ‘25?" Ken Simonson of the Associated General Contractors of America provides a forecast for the construction industry in the year to come. Simonson describes 2025 as a year of cautious optimism—but with a heightened degree of uncertainty. Under a Trump administration, while fewer federal regulations and lower taxes promise to bolster construction, President Donald Trump’s policy threats of increased tariffs and the deportation of foreign-born workers could prove challenging to the industry.

Those deportations would hit construction harder than most sectors, Simonson cautions. According to an analysis of Census Bureau data from the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies, 34 percent of construction craft workers in 2023 were immigrants—nearly double the 18 percent immigrant share of the nation’s overall labor force.

As for what the future truly holds? Time will tell.