Processing and recycling plant for rubble

The processing and recycling plant for rubble was an industrial plant in Frankfurt - Bornheim that operated from 1949 to 1964 . Due to its unique concept and its enormous performance record, it attracted worldwide attention at the time, attracted trade visitors from all over the world and was able to complete its work with an unprecedented record. From today's perspective, the plant was a recycling company on an industrial scale.

history

The processing and recycling plant for rubble was based on provisional facilities for sorting, processing and recycling the rubble that were initially set up in 1946. It was created on the site bordered by the streets Ratsweg, Am Riederbruch and Riederspießstraße. Below the Bornheimer slope , from 1920 to 1943, on the area on Ratsweg between the Bornheimer slope, Ostpark and the Riederwald, the old stadium on the Riederwald of Eintracht Frankfurt was located . This area had already been used as a rubble dumping area for destroyed businesses on Hanauer Landstrasse since November 16, 1943 . The processing and recycling plant for rubble was planned by Lurgi , a subsidiary of the metal company . In addition to the construction companies Philipp Holzmann and Wayss & Freytag as well as the city of Frankfurt am Main, both companies were involved in the operating company, the non-profit Trümmerverwertungsgesellschaft mbH (TVG).

The concerted action established the so-called "Frankfurt Procedure" , which was widely recognized in Germany and abroad.

Conception

The treatment and recycling plant for rubble was supposed to use a method that was as cost-effective as possible, but at the same time with the greatest possible efficiency, to process the rubble that was created during the air raids on Frankfurt am Main in World War II in a form that would allow all materials such as stones, mortar and steel to be recycled , Glass and other substances made new building materials possible. In addition to processing, the system should also offer further processing of the pre-sorted and processed materials and the finishing of new building materials.

Technical equipment

From 1947 an initially provisional crushing and screening plant was built, which converted the rubble into aggregates. This was supplemented by a concrete plant in which the aggregates for the production of concrete were used. A sintering plant was built for recycling the fine rubble , which, following the method of the iron and steel industry, produced a concrete aggregate free of any undesirable admixtures. The finished, compacted brick gravel concrete was used on site for the production of solid stones , hollow blocks , wall panels, roof stones and roof tiles .

workload

As early as 1950, the year after the facility was completed, it reached full capacity.

staff

In July 1955, 638 people were employed, working two shifts a day.

Worldwide response

The world's largest processing plant of this type was built on Ratsweg and brought many trade visitors from all over the world to Frankfurt.

Balance sheet

By autumn 1947, around 300,000 solid bricks and 400,000 roof tiles had already been produced in the provisional .

From 1949 onwards, 1,500 cubic meters of rubble were processed daily from the completed facility. This resulted in 850 to 900 cubic meters of compacted concrete every day or an average annual output of more than 200,000 cubic meters of brick chippings, which the construction industry liked to use thanks to its properties and which was delivered as solid, hollow blocks and ceiling blocks .

Even in the period before the new plant was fully utilized in 1950, 30 million solid and hollow blocks were produced for the new Frankfurt.

After full utilization, the annual output was initially 20 million solid blocks and almost 1.6 million hollow blocks, four years later the annual output had grown to 23 million solid blocks, 6.6 million hollow blocks and around 300,000 square meters of ceiling blocks.

TVG made it possible to rebuild around 100,000 apartments and commercial buildings by producing brick concrete blocks.

completion

The plant stopped working in 1964 and was then demolished; the 72-meter-high chimney was blown up in 1965.

Area today

Three years after the demolition of the production facility, the Frankfurt Dippemess took place for the first time in 1968 on the site of the rubble mountain, which became known as the fairground on Ratsweg. The Frankfurt ice rink is also located there today . A car dealership and a metro wholesale market are now located on the site of the former facility for processing and recycling rubble.

literature

Thomas Bauer: Be united for our city. Historisch-Archäologische Gesellschaft Frankfurt am Main (Ed.), 1996.
Sabine Hock: Walter Kolb. Lord Mayor of the City of Frankfurt am Main 1946–1956. Information sheet on an “Info Island” (“Frankfurt - where something new was created”) from the Walter Kolb Foundation, Frankfurt am Main, May 2001.
Sabine Hock: 1902–2002. On the 100th birthday of Walter Kolb: “Be united for our city.” Walter Kolb - Mayor of Frankfurt 1946–1956. Flyer from the Walter Kolb Foundation, Frankfurt am Main, December 2001.
Helli Knoll: Walter Kolb. Arani, 1953.
Helli Knoll: Walter Kolb - a great Lord Mayor. Rütten & Löhning, 1956.
Walter Kolb: Frankfurt am Main is building. Waldemar Kramer publishing house, Frankfurt am Main 1947.
Walter Kolb: Five speeches by the Mayor of Frankfurt, Walter Kolb. Traffic u. Economic Office of the City of Frankfurt am Main (ed.), 1947.
Walter Kolb: Frankfurt wants to live. Henrich, 1948.
Walter Kolb: Active City of Frankfurt. Verlag W. Kramer, Frankfurt am Main 1949.
Walter Kolb: Frankfurt's economy is building! W. Kramer publishing house, Frankfurt am Main 1952.
F. Lerner: Frankfurt am Main and its economy. Ammelburg-Verlag, 1958.
NN: Lord Mayor Dr. hc Walter Kolb, 1902–1956. City administration of the city of Frankfurt am Main (ed.). 1956.
NN: Frankfurt art at the time of Walter Kolb 1946–1956. Walter Kolb Foundation (ed.). Frankfurt am Main 2002.
Petra Roth: The rebirth of our cities. In: Culture of Property. Schwäbisch Hall Foundation (ed.). Springer, Berlin / Heidelberg 2006, ISBN 3-540-33951-5 .
Werner Wolf (Ed.): Rubble, Tears, Confidence, Everyday Life in Hesse 1945–1949. Insel-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1986, ISBN 3-458-14523-0 .