Recycled sub-base and Type 1
Recycled hardcore and MOT Type 1 delivered by the load across South London and Surrey.
Crushed concrete is demolition concrete that has been crushed and screened into a graded aggregate for use as sub-base, capping and fill. Prime Waste Services Ltd delivers it across South London and Surrey from our Croydon depot, in loads of up to 20 cubic yards and 16 tonnes per job.
Send the site postcode, what is on the ground and when you need it moved. We will come back with a written quotation. There is no charge for a quote and no obligation to book.
Lines are answered by the people who run the lorries, not a call centre. Same-day collection is often possible but always subject to availability.
It starts as demolition arisings: broken slabs, foundations, kerbs, blockwork and structural concrete taken off site when something comes down. Those arisings are processed at a permitted facility, where they are crushed to reduce the top size, screened into grades and passed under a magnet to pull out reinforcement and other ferrous metal. What comes out is a graded angular aggregate rather than a pile of rubble.
The regulatory position matters more than most buyers realise. Recycled aggregate produced to the Environment Agency’s quality protocol for aggregates from inert waste is normally regarded as having been fully recovered and to have ceased to be waste, so it can be supplied and used as a product in defined markets rather than moved under waste controls. Material that has not been produced to that standard remains waste, and that changes both the paperwork and where it can lawfully be placed.
In use it behaves much like a primary crushed rock. It is angular, so the particles interlock. It carries fines, which help the layer close up and bind. It takes compaction well and holds the shape it is rolled to. The one real difference is that the parent material is variable in a way a quarry face is not, so consistency depends on the plant that produced it.
Loads go out from Pear Tree Farm, Featherbed Lane, Croydon, CR0 9AA, which sits where the CR postcodes give way to the Surrey boundary. From there we cover South London, north and east Surrey, the Kent border through Bromley, Orpington and Sevenoaks, and the northern part of West Sussex.
In Greater London the working districts are CR across Croydon, South Croydon, Purley, Coulsdon, Kenley and Thornton Heath, SM across Sutton, Cheam, Carshalton and Wallington, and BR across Bromley, Beckenham, Penge and Orpington. The SE and SW districts take in Lewisham, Catford, Sydenham, Streatham, Norbury, Mitcham and Wimbledon, while KT runs west to Kingston upon Thames, Surbiton, Epsom and Ewell.
In Surrey the RH districts cover Redhill, Reigate, Merstham, Horley, Oxted and Godstone, and RH10 and RH11 carry us into Crawley and West Sussex. The route pattern is straightforward: the A23 and M23 running south, the M25 at junction 6 for Godstone, junction 7 for Merstham and junction 8 for Reigate, the A22 towards Godstone and East Grinstead, and the A232 and the A23 Purley Way for cross-borough work between Croydon and Sutton.
Two things shape a delivery across that area. Surrey and West Sussex lanes carry weight-restricted bridges and blind bends that decide where an eight-wheeler can stand, and the inner South London districts have red routes, controlled parking bays and timed restrictions that decide when it can stand there. Tell us the standing position and the drop point when you book, and we will say honestly whether it works before a loaded lorry is committed to it.
MOT Type 1 is a specification, not a rock type. The name comes from the old Ministry of Transport specification and it survives in the Specification for Highway Works within the Manual of Contract Documents for Highway Works, published by National Highways, where Type 1 describes a well-graded unbound granular material used as sub-base beneath roads and hardstandings.
What that specification cares about is the grading envelope, the strength and durability of the particles, the proportion of fines and the absence of deleterious material. It does not insist that the material be quarried. Type 1 is produced from primary limestone and granite, and equally from recycled sources, provided the finished product meets the grading and quality requirements set out for it.
That is why a recycled product sized to the Type 1 envelope is a legitimate sub-base under driveways, yards, paths, hardstandings and estate roads. Where a specification, a warranty or an adopting authority names a particular primary source, or a testing regime the recycled material has not been through, the specification wins. On most domestic and light commercial work no such requirement exists.
The two materials overlap heavily; the differences are consistency, appearance and what the specification allows.
| Consideration | Recycled crushed material | Primary MOT Type 1 |
|---|---|---|
| Source | Demolition concrete crushed and screened at a permitted facility | Quarried limestone, granite or other primary rock |
| Grading | Produced to the Type 1 envelope, or as a coarser 6F2 fill | Produced to the Type 1 envelope as standard |
| Consistency | Varies with the parent material and the producing plant | Consistent from a single quarry face |
| Appearance | Mixed colour, with visible brick, mortar and tile fragments | Uniform colour and texture |
| Suits | Sub-base and fill under drives, yards, paths, slabs and hardstandings | Specified works, adopted surfaces and anywhere the stone is exposed |
| Not suited to | No-fines drainage applications and exposed decorative finishes | Bulk filling where a recycled product would do the same job |
Both are unbound materials, so both depend entirely on being laid in layers and properly compacted.
Two grades cover most work. A recycled material sized to the Type 1 envelope runs from a top size of roughly 40 millimetres down to dust, and it is that spread of sizes, from stone through to fines, that lets it lock up under a roller. 6F2 is a coarse graded recycled fill with a considerably larger top size, specified as capping and general fill beneath the sub-base rather than as the sub-base itself.
The choice is about position in the build-up rather than quality. Capping goes in first over a weak or soft formation, giving the sub-base something firm to be compacted against, and a coarse grade suits that because it bridges soft spots instead of being pumped into them. The layer above needs the finer, well-graded material that closes up tight and takes the surfacing.
On a typical driveway or patio the sequence is: dig out to formation, check the ground is firm, lay and compact the sub-base in layers, then blind and lay the surfacing. On soft clay formations, common across the Weald and on parts of the London Clay, a capping layer or a geotextile separator beneath the sub-base is the difference between a drive that lasts and one that ruts through its first wet winter.
Compaction is where most failures are decided. The material has to go down in layers thin enough for the plant to work all the way through, and each layer has to be compacted before the next one goes on. A single deep dump rolled once at the surface looks finished and is not, because the bottom of it has never been reached.
Moisture content does real work. Too dry and the fines will not migrate into the voids, so the layer stays loose and dusty under the roller. Too wet, particularly with a recycled material carrying plenty of fines, and it goes soft and pumps rather than tightening up. Light damping in dry weather and patience in wet weather are both legitimate tactics.
Plant should suit the layer. A vibrating plate is adequate for a footpath or a small patio, a twin drum roller for a domestic driveway, and something heavier for a yard taking vehicles. Check the formation before any of it goes down. Soft spots dug out and replaced now cost a fraction of a patch repair through a finished surface later.
Depth of sub-base follows the loading above and the ground below. A footpath needs less than a domestic drive, and a domestic drive needs less than a yard taking delivery lorries. Where the ground is soft, add depth or add capping rather than hoping the surfacing will bridge it.
Recycled material is the sensible default for bulk sub-base and fill, and it is the wrong choice in a few identifiable situations. The first is specification. Where a drawing, a warranty or an adopting authority calls for a primary aggregate or a testing regime, supply what is specified and do not substitute.
Appearance is the second. Recycled material varies in colour and contains visible fragments of brick, mortar and tile, which is irrelevant under a slab and obvious in an exposed decorative layer. Where the stone will be seen in the finished job, a primary aggregate gives a consistent look that a recycled product cannot.
Drainage details are the third. Free-draining, no-fines applications such as soakaway surrounds, French drains and the sub-base beneath permeable paving rely on open voids staying open, and a well-graded material full of fines is designed to close those voids up. That is exactly what you want under a driveway and exactly what you do not want in a drain.
Outside those three cases, recycled aggregate does the same structural job for the same purpose. Most of the sub-base under the driveways, yards and estate roads of Croydon, Sutton, Bromley and the Surrey towns could be either, and the recycled option keeps demolition arisings in use. Deliveries are quoted on a project basis with no published price list, and same-day collection of the spoil from the dig is often possible but always subject to availability.
Not automatically. MOT Type 1 is a grading and quality specification for unbound sub-base, and it can be met by primary quarried rock or by a recycled product made to the same envelope. Recycled aggregate sized to that envelope performs as Type 1 sub-base, while coarser recycled grades such as 6F2 are capping and fill materials rather than sub-base.
Sub-base and fill under driveways, patios, paths, yards, hardstandings, sheds, garden rooms and estate roads, and as bulk filling to build up levels. It is an unbound material, so it relies entirely on being laid in layers and compacted properly. It is not suited to no-fines drainage applications, or to anywhere the stone will be visible in the finished surface.
It depends on the loading above and the ground below. A footpath needs less than a domestic driveway, and a driveway needs less than a yard taking delivery lorries. Soft clay formations need extra depth, a capping layer or a geotextile separator. Check the formation is firm before anything goes down, and dig out and replace soft spots rather than bridging over them.
Not once it has been fully recovered. The Environment Agency’s quality protocol for aggregates from inert waste sets the point at which material produced from inert waste ceases to be waste and can be supplied as a product for defined uses. Material that has not been produced to that standard remains waste and stays subject to waste controls and paperwork.
Often, yes. A grab lorry can arrive loaded with sub-base and leave with the arisings from the dig, which halves the vehicle movements on a tight site. Loads are 20 cubic yards and up to 16 tonnes per job, subject to loading and road restrictions, and we remove waste under carrier registration CBDU480663. Same-day collection is often possible but always subject to availability.
Sources and further reading
Call 07778 541120 or the office on 020 7167 8474 with the area and depth, and we will work out how much you need.
