Material costs keep rising, and clients increasingly want recycled aggregates written into the specification. If you are pricing groundworks this month or next, you need to know where they save money and where they do not. This guide covers the benefits of recycled aggregates, the jobs they suit and how to buy them from our recycled aggregates range, so you can decide with confidence.
At NMSB, we are an independent, family-owned supplier in New Milton, serving builders, landscapers, groundworkers and homeowners across Dorset and Hampshire. Recycled aggregates are among the most practical sustainable building materials we stock, and they only earn their place if you know what goes into them.
So, what are they? Recycled aggregates are made from construction and demolition waste such as concrete, brick and hardcore (broken rubble used as fill), which is crushed, screened and graded into usable sizes. Material that once left a site in a skip comes back as a product you can specify.
The terms are easy to mix up, so here is the short version. Recycled aggregates come from reprocessed site waste, secondary aggregates are by-products of other industries such as slag or china clay waste, and primary aggregates are quarried or dredged from natural deposits, like those in our construction aggregates.
With those terms clear, the obvious question is why use recycled aggregates at all.
The benefits of recycled aggregates come down to five practical points: what they cost, how they perform, where the material would otherwise end up, what they mean for quarrying, and how they help you meet a client's targets. Let's take a closer look at each in turn, starting with the one most people ask about first.
Is recycled aggregate cheaper? Often, yes, though not always. Our 10-20mm recycled shingle, commonly used for trench fill (filling a dug trench), is a lower-cost alternative to primary shingle, and recycled material is exempt from the aggregates levy, which helps keep prices down. Distance and processing still affect the final figure, so the honest answer depends on your specification and delivery location. Ask our team to price both options side by side for the same job, and see which works better for you.
Cost only matters if the material does the job. Are recycled aggregates as good as primary aggregates? For groundwork, yes. Crushed concrete forms a strong sub-base, the layer beneath a slab or road, provided it is graded and compacted properly, and it is widely used for trench fill and hard standing, meaning a firm area for parking or storage. For high-specification structural work, primary aggregate is still the safer choice, and we will say so when it is.
Performance is one reason to choose them, and what happens to the material afterwards is another. Crushed concrete, brick and rubble are too useful to throw away, so our waste recycling centre turns them back into aggregate. That keeps construction and demolition waste in circulation, which is the circular economy working at ground level. It is well established too: the Mineral Products Association estimates that recycled and secondary materials made up 31% of Great Britain's total aggregates supply in 2024 [1].
The same thinking applies upstream. Each tonne of recycled aggregates used where it suits the job means less virgin stone needs to be quarried. That matters for local landscapes, and it can also lower embodied carbon, which is the carbon released when a material is extracted, processed and moved. Because we produce and supply from local sites, transport distances stay short as well. Recycled material will never replace quarried stone entirely, but it reduces how much of it you need.
All of this adds up to something clients now ask about directly. Main contractors want sustainable building materials with recycled content, and using them can support BREEAM credits (a widely used building sustainability rating) and client ESG requirements, although the credits themselves depend on each project's assessment. If you need recycled content evidenced for a specifier, ask our team what information we can provide, and read how we work responsibly on our sustainability page.
Benefits only count if the material suits the job, so it helps to be clear about where recycled aggregate uses make the most sense. The material is at its best in groundwork and fill: sub-base under driveways, slabs and access roads, trench fill, general fill, hard standing and temporary roads. Our recycled ballast and concreting sand also suit site-mixed concrete for non-structural work, and the sand is a dependable bed for paving slabs.
There are limits, and we would rather you heard them from us first. Recycled products may contain permitted contaminants, meaning small amounts of other material that the specification allows, so they belong under the surface rather than on it. For a visible driveway finish or a planting bed, choose from our decorative aggregates instead. Once you know the job suits recycled material, the next step is choosing the right grade.
Choosing the right grade is how the benefits of recycled aggregates reach your job, so here is what we stock, and the recycled aggregate uses each product suits:
Once you have picked a grade, buying it is straightforward. One of the practical benefits of recycled aggregates is that you can usually collect them close to the job, and our recycled aggregates are available from many of our local sites. You can arrange collection, or we can deliver loose loads and bulk bags by large or small tipper. Recycled concreting sand also comes in 25kg midi bags.
Each product listing comes with a handy tool to help you calculate your requirements, and our trade accounts suit anyone who buys regularly. Some products are collected from selected sites only, so get in touch to confirm where yours is held. For clarity, our aggregates continue as normal following the sale of our builders' merchant branch to MKM Building Supplies, so expect no disruption to your repeat orders.
Recycled material can cut cost and waste on the right job, and we will tell you honestly where it fits. Send your details through our contact form or call our team on 01425 610 566, and we will price your sub-base, trench fill or hard standing. At NMSB, we have supplied local builders for over 88 years, and we intend to keep doing it one honest quote at a time.
[1] MPA, ' Construction Aggregates Supply in Great Britain: Primary, Recycled and Secondary Aggregates in 2024': https://mineralproducts.org/MPA/media/root/Publications/2026/Construction_Aggregates_Supply_in_GB_2024.pdf