Recovered stone
Washed, screened aggregate for construction, backfill and other applications where a recovered product meets the specification.
Stone detailsHome / How it works
A circular economy for hydrovac slurry
The material that comes out of the ground on a hydrovac job can go back into use. This is how a load moves through EcoVac, what it becomes, and where each part goes next.
What's in a load
Hydrovac excavation uses pressurized water to break up soil and a vacuum to lift it into the truck. The result is mostly water, carrying stone, sand, silt and clay from whatever ground the crew was working in. In the GTA that often looks a lot like the material a pit or quarry sells.
The mix changes from job to job. A load from a utility locate in a residential boulevard is different from one pulled out beside a highway. That variation is why separation matters: each material behaves differently, so it's handled differently.
Two ways a load can go
The linear route runs excavate, haul, dispose. The solids end up out of use, and the water is gone.
The circular route runs excavate, haul, separate, recover, reuse. The solids go back into construction and the water goes back into the trucks that brought it. That second route is the one EcoVac is built around.
How the separation works
Each stage takes out one kind of material, from coarsest to finest, so what's left at the end is water.
1
Screening
The load lands on screens that lift out stone and coarse gravel. Everything finer passes through with the water.
2
Washing
Stone and sand are washed as they move, so silt and clay are carried on into the water rather than left coating the product.
3
Fines recovery
The finest solids are taken out of the water and pressed into a stackable clay.
4
Water treatment
The remaining water is treated on site, then reused in the process and to refill trucks.
Where each material goes
Every recovered stream has its own uses. Suitability for a given job depends on that project's requirements and the material's current documentation.
Recovered sand
Washed and separated from fines. Suited to bedding, backfill, road work and applications that call for a consistent sand.
Sand details
Recovered clay
Fine solids pressed and managed as their own stream, directed to reuse where the requirements are met.
Clay details
Treated water
Separated and treated on site. Reused in the process and available to refill outgoing hydrovac trucks.
Treated water details
Water closes the loop
Hydrovac excavation depends on water, and water is the largest part of every load that comes in.
Once the solids are out, that water is treated and put back to work: in our own process, and in the tanks of outgoing trucks at the fill point. A crew that tips and refills at EcoVac leaves ready for the next job, and less fresh water is drawn to do it.
Distance matters too
A load that's driven an hour out of the city to a rural receiving site burns fuel and a crew's time both ways. A central receiving facility in Toronto shortens that trip for most GTA jobs, which is a practical saving and a smaller footprint for the same work.
The honest limits
No recovery process is perfect. Composition varies from load to load, some residual material remains after any process, and every recovered material still has to suit the job it's going to. We don't publish diversion percentages until we can back them with verified figures, and we won't describe a material as suitable for an application its documentation doesn't support.