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Byline: ALAN R. ELLIOTT
Civilization is a fancy way to say we're gradually wising up. We tamed fire, conceived the wheel, then moved on to deodorant and flat-screen TVs.
One less obvious advance deals with demolished concrete, brick and asphalt on large construction and road building projects.
Traditionally, contractors paid to haul and dump the stuff at landfills or vacant lots. Today a growing number choose to crush, sift and grade the rubble on site.
It's an alternative to having fresh sand, gravel and stone trucked in from nearby quarries.
In Europe, about half of construction aggregates come from materials recycled on-site.
"In America, we are quite a few years behind that," said Don Brock, chairman and president of Astec Industries.