Crushed stone: Stocks
Endless rock, but permits are the real limit
What this tab covers How much is left and how much is held. For minerals and energy: reserves, current output, years of supply and recycling for the top five countries. For farm commodities: production, ending stocks and stocks-to-use for the top five producers (USDA, October 2026). It also covers inventories and stockpiles.Top five countries: reserves, output and years of supply
| Country | Reserves Mt (not quantified: 'adequate' except special types and local shortages) | Current output Mt (2025e) | Years of supply | Recycling |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | – | 1,500 | – | n/a |
Recycling
USGS publishes output only for the US. In the US, 37 Mt of recycled material entered crushed-stone supply in 2025, about 2.5% of consumption (USGS 2026). The EU end-of-life recycling input rate is 9% for aggregates and 1% for limestone (EU CRM 2023). Worldwide, about 37% of end-of-life non-metallic minerals are recycled but they make up only 11% of inputs to stocks (Krausmann et al. 2017, for 2010).
USGS describes reserves only as adequate, except where special stone types are needed or local shortages exist. Stone resources are plentiful worldwide, so global reserve life is not meaningful. The binding limits are local: zoning, permits and urban growth push new quarries away from cities. Conway describes a Rugby cement plant whose neighbouring limestone is nearly exhausted, now fed by a 57-mile chalk pipeline (pdf p. 64). US producers recycled about 37 million t of material in 2025. Asphalt and concrete road surfaces are recycled in all 50 states.
Recycling
End-of-life recycling input rate in the EU: 1% of demand met from post-consumer scrap (EU CRM study 2023).Asphalt and portland cement concrete road surfaces were recycled in all 50 States in 2025, but recycled material remained a very small share of total aggregate.