Asking what happens to construction waste once it leaves a site is something that a surprising amount of our customers now enquire about. With SRC Group’s recycled materials recently achieving Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) certification, it felt like a good moment to explain that process properly, from the point in which materials arrive at our recycling facilities through to the recycled products that they eventually become.
Construction waste typically includes materials such as concrete, brick, asphalt, soil and other excavated materials. Rather than sending this straight to landfill, we recover it from our demolition and earthworks projects and transport it to one of SRC Group’s four recycling facilities across the South East.
Not every material that arrives at our facilities follows exactly the same route. Concrete and brick tend to go through crushing to break larger materials down to a manageable size in order to produce recycled aggregates and sub-base products. Excavated soil is more likely to be washed to remove contaminants such as silt or organic matter, then sorted to separate different material types from one another before being graded for reuse as sand and aggregates.
Keeping that end-to-end journey short matters to us too. The closer our recycling facilities are to where waste is generated, the fewer HGV journeys are needed to move material around, which helps to reduce both cost and emissions for the projects that we work on.
Recovering the recyled materials is only one part of the process and it’s important to note here that before anything leaves our facilities as a recycled product, it’s thoroughly-checked to make sure that it meets the relevant quality standards, including WRAP protocols and the Highways 600 series for recycled aggregates. This is what allows our recycled materials to be used with confidence across a wide range of construction applications, from groundworks to structural fill and concrete products.
It’s a common assumption that construction waste still mostly ends up in landfill. Historically, a lot of it did, but that’s changed significantly across the industry and it’s certainly changed at SRC Group. Rather than viewing recovered materials as something to simply dispose of, our aim is to divert as much waste as possible from landfill and to implement the best recycling technology available to move our recycled products up the value chain into higher value applications in the construction industry.
This shift within the industry is also why questions like what actually happens to construction waste come up so often, and why we’re also happy to answer them.
Today, at SRC, around 89% of the materials that come through our recycling facilities are processed back to the point of reuse, with the remaining 11% going towards restoration schemes that support biodiversity net gain. Each year we sell more than 1.2 million tonnes of recycled products, which is an annual saving to the construction industry of 9.348 million kgs of CO₂e.
The recycled aggregates that come out of this process also form the raw materials behind other solutions within our range, including our Low-Carbon Ready Mixed Concrete and award-winning ECO-BLOC® blocks. These products are a good example of our circular economy approach in action, an approach which saw us named the winner of the Circular Economy Success category at the 2026 Awards for Excellence in Recycling and Waste Management earlier this year. This award in particular recognises organisations who are finding practical ways to keep resources in use and reduce waste.
The outcome of the EPD was a Global Warming Potential of 0.00 kg CO₂e across the A1 to A3 stages (raw material supply, transport and manufacturing) for our recycled aggregates, sands, sub-base, clay, topsoil and subsoil. This easy-to-interpret data makes all the difference if you’re compiling a BREEAM or LEED submission, working out embodied carbon or simply making the case for recycled materials on a project.
It’s now common knowledge that choosing recycled aggregates over virgin alternatives reduces the demand for primary resources and keeps waste materials out of landfill and preserves landfill void spaces. According to the Mineral Products Association (MPA), recycled and secondary materials account for 31% of GB’s consumption; proving how widely they are accepted in the industry as an alternative to virgin.
By understanding what happens to construction waste and how important it is to choose a construction partner who priorities reuse, you too can be part of that process. However, the real benefit to your own projects is the access to verified data. Now, with an EPD certification in place, SRC Group can provide the credentials to back up alternative, sustainable options.
The landscape of our industry is changing rapidly and we are proud to be at the forefront of some major developments. If you’d like to talk through how recycled materials could work for your next project, or find out more about our EPD, our team would be happy to help.
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