DM Civil

Sustainability in Civil Developments

September 2016

In order to compete in a changing economy, Perth’s civil industries are striving to lower costs and increase efficiency. For sustainable development the need to utilize recycling methods is essential to help reduce our environmental impact and re-purpose resources.

DM Civil individually tailor site-specific Construction Environmental Management Plans, (CEMPs), to ensure work is performed within statutory and community environmental requirements. We implement a range of measures which will reduce a projects overall ecological footprint.

One of the technologies we utilize is the EX180 Flip Screen – a highly productive portable screening attachment that helps reduce onsite costs and minimise waste.

The flip screen is attached to our 50 tonne CAT 350 hydraulic excavators, where the bucket with a mesh sector on top is rotated 360 degrees and separates finer material while keeping the oversized material for separation. This high volume screening bucket inexpensively and efficiently sorts to recover almost all sized aggregates onsite. On average the flip screen processes about 2 tonnes of material in 10 to 12 seconds.

It can be used to separate:

  • Crush concete and asphalt
  • Rubbish and rubble
  • Strip topsoil material to remove tree roots and vegetation
  • Large rock from bulk earthworks or trench excavation to obtain suitable backfill material

The benefits of the flip screen, include:

  • Reduction in waste disposal and landfill fees
  • Helps reduce transportation related costs like labour, fuel and equipment hiring
  • Offsets the need for off-site removal and importation and purchase of new clean materials.

In this video we showcase the flipscreen in action.  The EX180 is being utilized to separate roots and organic material from stripped topsoil. The screened topsoil was then in turn mixed and blended with earth-worked sand on site to form valuable fill. This was done as an alternative in lieu of purchasing and importing expensive additional clean fill sand and having to dispose and pay expensive tip fees for the topsoil to be disposed at a landfill as waste.

DM Civil use flip-screening for remediation, land development and also pipeline projects where we identify the potential to recycle and re-use the screened matter onsite, in situ. Through the use of this type of technology, we mitigate the environmental impact of our activities of each project we work on and contribute to both a sustainable, economic and resource-sound future.