Gradeg S.A.

Gradeg SA was born from the observation, by its promoters, operators of gravel pits and landfills, that a quantity of originally noble materials (concrete, asphalt and natural stones) were dumped in landfill, making the placement of cuttings often difficult. .

An annual check of the possible quantities of waste of gravelly origin allowed us to estimate them between 30 and 40,000 m3 from 1981. The deposits of natural materials (all-round) are becoming increasingly rare, and the sites of landfill for the rubble from construction sites in the canton which is running out, the interest of recycling gravelly materials instead of dumping them in landfill has become obvious to the promoters.

The serious study of a reprocessing facility for these materials was carried out with a specialized builder who was able to carry it out in accordance with our wishes. This is how the first industrial installation in Switzerland for recycling inert demolition materials was put into service at the Nant-d'Avril route in September 1983, under the name Gradeg S.A ..

The first product manufactured by this installation reprocessed the gravelly cuttings received, mixed in a single grain size, 0/100, which corresponded to a serious II. From the start, civil engineering and construction companies were interested in these new materials, out of economic interest and for their ease of installation and compaction. Since 2000 and in accordance with the new federal provisions, we have produced two different grain sizes, a serious GNT 0/45 RC certified non-freezing concrete aggregate based on concrete only and a serious 0/100 composed of other materials, all of these elements. being strictly of gravelly origin. The analyzes which are systematically carried out by a laboratory define our serious GNT 0/45 RC concrete aggregate certified non-freezing as being comparable to a serious I.

Gradeg S.A. has produced since its inception in 1983 around 2,700,000 tons of materials which have replaced the natural products that have been preserved in this way. It is also 2,700,000 tonnes of earthen excavation landfill that has been made available to earthmoving companies.