(Above) Hauling broken asphalt spoils to feed the Bagela Asphalt Recycler.

The day started out like any other Southern California summer day, warm, with a slight breeze and a touch of something in the air. But, this was not going to be any ordinary day, at least for the people involved in this story.

The story started a few weeks before with several calls made to Hot Asphalt Recycling in Vista, California. Hot Asphalt Recycling is the western U.S. distributor for the Bagela Asphalt Recycler. These units are quickly proving themselves in the hot in-place recycling market. They can hot recycle anywhere from seven to ten tons of broken waste asphalt per hour, depending on the model. Additives are added to the mix to bring the waste asphalt back to an acceptable working level.

The first caller was Norm Hunt of the Crestline Water District, in San Bernardino County. Norm expressed the great inconvenience of having to haul their broken spoils down the steep San Bernardino Mountains and picking up asphalt in the valley below. A trip that would, on a good day, take two hours and on a bad day may not even happen. With traffic accidents, plant backups, and bad weather, a full crew could be sidelined doing something else or drink lots of coffee. Norm was eager to see a demonstration.

(Above left) Feeding Bagela hopper with broken asphalt. Note the 300 degree mix coming out of the back end. (Above right) Mick Hill Enterprises uses a Mauldin Paver to lay down the recycled hot mix.

The second caller was pavement engineer supervisor Laddie Svarc of the San Bernardino County Road Maintenance Division. Laddie said that this technology could potentially save his department quite a bit of money. The largest county in California is San Bernardino County. Because of its size and population, the county spends a lot of money on virgin asphalt and in removing and disposing of its broken asphalt spoils.

Coincidentally, the large mountain equipment yard for San Bernardino is next door to the Crestline Water District's building and yard. Bingo, maybe a demo could be done at the county's yard for both groups!

Laddie agreed to host the demonstration at their yard. In preparation, he made several phone calls and invited a bunch of people from their other county yards and offices to see the Bagela in action.

A couple of days later, Mick Hill from Mick Hill Enterprises called and asked for a Bagela Asphalt Recycler demonstration. Surprise, Mick is from Crestline. Mick is a private grading and asphalt contractor who has large mounds of broken asphalt stockpiled at his yard for future removal. Mick wanted to see the unit right away so that he could start decreasing the size of his growing pile and save on his asphalt bills. He was invited to see a job being performed on a street for the Rainbow Water District out of Fallbrook, California.

(Above) Mick Hill enterprises paving a bridge approach with 100% recycled hot mix in Crestline, California.

Armorcote Asphalt Company was doing the job, which was approximately 1,100 square feet. The Bagela BA10000 was on the job with a production capacity of up to ten tons per hour. Foreman, Robert McClure, tore up the damaged asphalt road area with a skip loader. The continuous feed Bagela was loaded with broken asphalt spoils and within ten minutes 300 degree hot mix was pouring out of the back end. Mick couldn't believe it. The job took a little over three hours and both the Rainbow Water District and Armorcote Asphalt Company were pleased with the finished asphalt product. Mick was estatic. But, caution being in Mick's personality, he wanted to see the demonstration that would be performed in Crestline at the County of San Bernardino yard.

At 8:00 A.M. sharp, the demonstration with the Bagela Asphalt Recycler BA 10000 began. Norm Hunt from the Crestline Water District was there along with Mick Hill and Laddie Svarc with about twenty other county yard personnel, engineers and officials. The county had a large pile of broken asphalt spoils piled up to run through the unit. A large loader was used to feed the hopper and additives were put in the broken mix. By 8:35 A.M. approximately six tons of 300 degree recycled asphalt lay in a pile behind the Bagela. About four tons of this material was picked up by the loader and dumped in a potholed area of the equipment yard. The area was cleaned and primecoated prior to the demonstration. A motor grader then leveled out the material, which was then edge raked and rolled.

The whole group of people descended on the freshly laid patch. They kicked, poked and prodded at the newly recycled asphalt. But due to the additives and proper installation, the large patch would not move.

(Above) Mick Hill Enterprises finished equipment yard used 170 tons of recycled asphalt.

Through the yard gates appeared a second loader with one of Norm Hunt's guys taking the last two tons of asphalt in the bucket to do a water main break road patch. The recycled asphalt was brought to a winding mountain road where it was placed in the prepped patch area. Traffic was then quickly allowed to pass over the finished patch. According to Norm, "the patch has held up very nicely."

Norm Hunt was very impressed with the recycling units finished product. "The road patch has been looking very good but, we are at the end of our season for pipeline patch work. Next year, this machine may fit very nicely into our water line asphalt patching work." According to Laddie Svarc, this machine would be very useful in their desert operation areas. With large piles of asphalt located at their desert yards and long trips to the plant, Laddie says that this could cut down on travel costs, wear and tear on trucks and of course save on the overall asphalt bill.

After the demonstration, the Bagela Asphalt Recycler was towed to Mick Hills equipment yard where during the next two days over 170 tons of his broken asphalt pile was recycled. The broken material was loaded into the Bagela and the hot recycled mix was scooped up by a New Holland skid steer which then placed the material into a Smith Mauldin Paver. The paver then slowly pulled ahead and paved a new 10,000 square foot parking lot 3" deep with hot recycled asphalt. The recycled asphalt saved Mick over $5,000, not including any dump fees and wear and tear on his trucks.

Mick has currently purchased a BA 10000 model to help extend his winter road-patching season in the San Bernardino Mountains and add more profit to his bottom line. Mick figured out that the recycling unit will save him over $40.00 per ton when he is performing asphalt removal and replacement work. As he says, "these are year round savings. I don't have to buy new asphalt, pay dumping fees, or have a guy on the road tearing up my truck. It's just a no brainer." With over 800 units in world-wide operation, the German built Bagela Asphalt Recyclers are just another way to help road builders and municipalities utilize the resources that they have on hand. Asphalt is a reusable and renewable resource!