After 25 years in the paving business, R.L. Materials Inc. switched gears at its Suffolk County, Long Island, facility in Medford, N.Y., to offer on-site crushing and recycling services for asphalt contractors looking to stop splurging on job-site expenses and start purging costly delivery charges.
With R.L. Materials’ new service, materials such as concrete and asphalt can be crushed on site and reused as a base material, eliminating both the cost of hauling materials off site and the cost of importing aggregate base materials to the job site.
On-Site Crushing, Recycling Specs
R.L. Materials’ construction demolition recycling facility has a large capacity for accepting concrete, asphalt and dirt materials for recycling. The company will pick up recyclable demolition materials from contractors unable to transport materials to its site.
R.L. Materials currently processes approximately 200,000 yds. (182,880 m) of material a year and accept 800 yds. (732 m) of material daily for recycling applications.
Concrete and asphalt is crushed down to a 2-in. minus product and the dirt is used for fines to blend with the asphalt and concrete to make bind material.
Iron Inventory
R.L. Materials’ inventory of crushing equipment includes one Extec C10 portable tracked jaw crusher; an Extec C12 portable tracked jaw crusher; two Robo-track 12 by 18 portable screening plants; a 54-in. impact crusher with a 6 by 16 screening deck.
“We are three years into this project and the business is growing very well for us,” said Ralph Lunati, vice president of R.L. Materials. “Looking to the future, obviously, Long Island is very well developed and there is not a lot of room for new development. The next wave of growth is going to have to involve a considerable amount of demolition and recycling of old structures to make way for the new. That’s why we have recently invested heavily in our on-site crushing equipment.”
As Long Island contractors demolish existing sites for redevelopment, R.L. Materials has had to expand its fleet to accommodate the demand for its services. The company also owns two new Kawasaki loaders — a 3.5-yd. loader and an 85ZV 4.5-yd. loader — which were purchased from All Island Equipment in Babylon, N.Y.
“We bought the Kawasaki model 70ZIV and liked it so much that over the course of the summer we purchased the model 85ZV,” said Lunati. “We already owned a small fleet of loaders, but with our business growing so rapidly we needed to expand on our loader fleet so that we can increase our capacity.”
The Kawasaki loaders have served R.L. Materials well as its business continues to boom.
“We are very impressed with the Kawasaki loaders. They seem to be built specifically for our type of work and they come standard-equipped with many extras at a very competitive price,” added Lunati, citing specific features such as box-frame construction, outboard wet disc brakes and outboard planetary drive give the Kawasaki loaders a tremendous value.
Lunati also said the performance of these loaders remains unmatched, stating that their hauling and lifting capacity has not been met by other brands of the same size.
“You would have to purchase larger model machines with other brand of loaders to do what we do with these [Kawasakis],” he added. “When working with the machines we noticed right away that you could lift a heaping full bucket of material with no strain whatsoever, and even with the bucket full [it] gives us tremendous travel speed across the ground. This is important to us because we want to get our customers’ trucks loaded and out of here as fast as possible.”
Solid Working Relationship
R.L. Materials and All Island Equipment have a long-standing relationship dating back several decades.
“In 1995 I purchased my first Leeboy paver from Gary Wade [president of All Island Equipment], and in the generation before me my father was purchasing Dynapac rollers and Massey Ferguson tractors from Gary’s father Gus,” explained Lunati.
“Over the years, I have purchased Kobelco backhoes, asphalt coating machines, Gehl skid steer loaders and Interstate trailers from All Island Equipment,” he added. “They offer quality products, but we also receive service from them that is impeccable.”
About R.L. Materials
Ralph Lunati and Rocco Logozzo founded R.L. Materials Inc. in 2001 after spending 25 years in the paving and construction sector of the industry.
Today R.L. Materials offers a full line of services including on-site crushing and recycling, and delivering recycled materials to contractors. CEG
This story also appears on Aggregate Equipment Guide.
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