Recycling concrete into reusable aggregate is one of the most profitable applications for a mobile plant, because the feedstock is free and the product is sold locally. Understanding what actually moves the price helps you buy the machine you need instead of the machine with the biggest number on the brochure.
1. Feed size and reinforcement content
Reinforced concrete with heavy rebar needs either an impact crusher with an integrated magnet or a jaw crusher followed by magnetic separation. Both add cost, but they also set the quality of the output: clean aggregate sells, aggregate with embedded steel does not.
Where the feed is mostly clean demolition rubble under 600 mm, a jaw plant such as the UJC604 tracked jaw crusher is the economical choice. Where rebar and asphalt dominate, an impactor such as the UIC80 tracked impact crusher usually produces a better-shaped product with fewer blockages.
2. Capacity: the step change is not linear
Price rises faster than tonnage as machines get larger, because the frame, jaw stock, bearings and engine all scale with the chamber. Moving from a 150–300 t/h class machine to a 400 t/h class machine typically costs 40–70% more for roughly half as much again in output. Choose the smaller machine if your feed supply is intermittent, and the larger one only if you have a steady supply of rubble and a market for the product.
3. Mobility and the cost of moving
Tracked machines are the most expensive to buy and the cheapest to move between nearby sites. Trailer-mounted units such as the UTC604 mobile jaw crusher cost less and still tow behind a truck, but they need a hard standing and take longer to set up. If your work is clustered within one city, tracked makes sense; if you travel long distances between small jobs, a trailer plant often returns the investment faster.
4. The hidden half of the invoice: screening and stockpiling
A crusher produces one product. To sell 0–10 mm, 10–20 mm and 20–40 mm separately — which is where the margin is — you need a screener and, usually, conveyors. Budget for:
- a scalping screen ahead of the crusher to remove fines and reduce wear;
- a 2- or 3-deck screen for graded products, such as the UZS1545 scalping screener;
- one stacker per stockpile, for example the UTD65S tracked stacker;
- an overband magnet and, where dust matters, water sprays or a dust-suppression system.
5. Running costs matter more than purchase price
Over three years, fuel, jaw plates or blow bars, belts and labour usually exceed the difference in purchase price between two competing machines. Diesel consumption per tonne, the number of wear parts and how quickly they can be changed on site are the figures worth comparing in detail. Ask for the wear-part change time — it is the number that quietly decides your cost per tonne.
Key takeaways
- Buy for the feed you have, not the biggest lump you might see once a month.
- Reinforcement content, not tonnage, decides whether you need a jaw or an impactor.
- Include screening and stacking in the original budget — it is where the saleable product comes from.
- Compare wear cost per tonne, not just purchase price.
Tell us the material, the target products and the number of tonnes per year, and we will propose a line and an estimated cost per tonne. Ask for a quotation or see the mobile screener range.