TAKING OUT A SWIMMING POOL

If you’re considering removing an underground swimming pool, and want to know the chances of being able to recycle the materials, we have to first consider what it’s made of.

Excluding the water for a moment, in a non-fibreglass pool there will most likely be concrete, wood, bricks and ‘reo’ (metal rods used for reinforcement), which once removed, are all melded together to be chewed up and, as far as possible, separated.

Removing and underground pool from a backyard also comes with some challenges with access for heavy machinery, as they have often had buildings or other structures built around them since the original installation.

Fortunately, this backyard could accommodate the grabber. It is a noisy, dusty process. This pool was well built, which actually makes it a more difficult process to take it all apart. There is lots of reo in the concrete, and the loads are not economical to take as recyclable material. In this case, to separate the metal reo and concrete would cost more than the recovered materials are worth.o, on inspection, a demolition quote could not anticipate how substantial a structure is made and then how difficult it is to demolish. Ironically the more reinforcement, the less likely the pool will have a high recycling possibility. This pool ended up in the landfill stream and became more costly for the demolition team than originally anticipated.

Until a thorough inspection was carried out post-demolition, the team could not have anticipated just how substantial the structure was, or the percentage of valuable and retrievable materials.

Ironically the more reinforcement, the less likely the pool will have a high recycling possibility. This particular pool ended up in the landfill stream and became more costly for the demolition team than originally anticipated.

The recycling market for construction materials is precarious in Perth, WA. The landfill levy (tax paid to State Government) at 2016 is $40/tonne for inert waste, a dramatic increase in the previous year of $8/tonne. This has resulted in much more demolition waste being sent for recycling. However the recyclers still have to find markets for their products and this can prove difficult if the cost of virgin materials is similar to recycled product.

It’s all about cost and markets and customer preferences for materials.