NORTHERN Ireland makes over 40% of the world’s mobile rock sorting and crushing equipment.

Most of it is manufactured by a cluster of firms around Dungannon, with Powerscreen probably the best known, although there are other firms across the region.

Even if you are not familiar with this industry, you may have seen its enormous products – like folded-up mechanical dinosaurs – being transported on lorries to Belfast, from where they are shipped to more than 100 countries. It is an extraordinary engineering success story.

Sorting and crushing rock is a huge part of road-building. Because Northern Ireland is at the forefront of this industry, it is also at the forefront of techniques to make it greener.

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Using different materials, local materials or recycled materials can significantly reduce overall carbon emissions.

Roads themselves can be recycled, especially their asphalt. Old tyres have been mixed into asphalt for many years; now plant-based materials can be added so asphalt locks in carbon dioxide rather than emitting it. We have companies specialising in all these technologies.

Northern Ireland also has firms specialising in deep soil mixing, where ground is stabilised by injecting columns of soil mixed with rock or concrete.

© The Irish News