ENTREPRENEURIAL UTILIZATION OF CRUSHED STONE DUST: A COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS

Crushed stone is a by-product of crushing stone which has been considered as unsalable and of no significant value. But entrepreneurs seek to use all resources and reduce waste to increase their profit margin and thus utilization of crushed stones will reduce pollution of; natural habitat, air, water and soil. Not much has been done in stone dust utilization and thus this paper examines not only the technological feasibility of using quarry dust as a concrete building material but also undertakes a cost benefit analysis for the same. The study was a case design of Sirikwa Quarry. The quarry dust was tested experimentally for technical viability in the production of building blocks; an impact assessment was conducted and a cost benefit analysis carried out to determine the commercial viability as well as social cost benefit of utilizing the quarry dust as a raw material in the manufacture of building blocks. The findings from this study are significant to the Ministries of environment and public works, local and international construction companies and quarries and SMEs. The findings indicate stone dust can replace river sand in making of concrete blocks which will lower cost building materials, reduce cost of housing and dispose stone dust leading to clean environment. It is thus recommended strongly that SMEs in the construction industry use stone dust in concrete blocks manufacture in the place of river sand.