Schwing Stetter partners with IIT Madras for recycling construction waste

CHENNAI: Construction equipment major Schwing Stetter India has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT Madras) to drive sustainable advancements in the construction industry.

As part of this collaboration, Schwing Stetter India will become a platinum member in the Technologies for Low Carbon Lean Concrete (TLC2) programme and will also join the Industry Advisory Board of the Centre of Excellence of IIT Madras.

VG Sakthikumar, CMD, Schwing Stetter India, said, “This will be a win-win association. Schwing Stetter will make sustainable machinery for recycling concrete and construction waste, helping IIT Madras’ research to become a reality. We will be associated in a key role in the mechanical or machinery side of the research both in terms of new machine solutions as well as new process solutions. IITM will have access to our manufacturing facility while we will get the opportunity to access their knowledge base for our R&D and GCC teams.”

The partnership entails a Rs 75 lakh grant from Schwing Stetter spread over three years. “The first tranche has been released already,” he added.

The partnership will focus on recycling waste from the construction sector given that cement and steel are high carbon footprint industries. “We’re telling the construction industry to recycle resources like quarrying stones/aggregates because we don’t have unlimited resources. Also, unrecycled aggregates are burdening solid waste management areas. So recycling is imperative,” he said.

The government has already announced its intent of 25% recycled aggregates to be used in construction but without rewards or penalties regulation and implementation is poor.

Schwing Stetter and IIT Madras had earlier jointly conducted a study with Chennai Metro on the reuse of construction and demolition waste aggregates in concrete production. A report was subsequently published. Through joint research initiatives, the partnership will work towards developing energy efficient and environmentally friendly construction techniques enhancing innovation in the construction industry by integrating academic research with industry expertise, said a company statement. The collaboration between Schwing Stetter and IIT Madras will help Schwing Stetter engineers on various skill development trainings through IIT faculty members and also perform various collaborative projects.