Recycle C&D Debris - Design Opportunities

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Design Opportunities
The single greatest opportunity for C&D waste stream reduction lies in the planning and design stages for a construction project. Much waste can be eliminated during the design process, including scraps of lumber and plywood, gypsum wallboard, and many other materials. A number of opportunities exist to encourage waste reduction during the design stage and on the construction site. There are two general ways to efficiently manage construction materials: Prevent the creation of waste, scrap, and discards, or handle waste materials responsibly once they are created.

The design process can be evaluated to yield conditions and decisions which create less waste by employing more efficient framing and plywood layouts such as "advanced framing." Advanced framing eliminates nonstructural lumber from walls and ceilings to reduce thermal bridging and make more room for insulation. With an R value of one per inch, wood is a relatively poor insulator. Wood wall framing acts as a thermal bridge for heat loss from the inside wall to the outside. Advanced framing allows insulation to be installed in more of the shell of the building, thus decreasing heat loss. Many builders find that by incorporating advanced framing they can actually reduce their labor, material costs and waste stream costs. Elements of advanced framing include:

2" x 6" studs 24 inches on center and elimination of unnecessary lumber at intersections between exterior walls and partitions.
Insulated headers over windows and doors.
2-stud and special 3-stud corners that eliminate un-insulated corner cavities.
Ceilings constructed to allow insulation at full depth to extend over the top plates.

Some other tactics the design process could consider are purchasing products with minimal packaging and product waste. Favor suppliers who will minimize use of packaging and will take back excess packaging such as pallets, crates, and cardboard boxes, or who will take back excess building materials. Designers could specify less toxic materials. Substitute water-based paints for solvent-based paints. Use leftover materials and salvage fixtures and materials in non sensitive areas. Specify products made from recycled materials. When specified and applied to new construction or remodeling, pollution prevention techniques and products can significantly reduce the C&D waste stream impact of construction activities.

Sustainable site planning does not impose building design on the site. Rather, it is used to identify the ecological characteristics of the site, to determine whether the site is appropriate for its proposed use, and to design ways to integrate the building with the site. The intent is to lessen the environmental impact of human activity while using natural features of the site to enhance human comfort and health. Preservation of site resources and conservation of energy and materials in construction and building operations are important benefits of good site planning.

When integrating pollution prevention into your construction project, perform a site analysis with your client to determine which of the following site characteristics may influence the shape, materials choice, mechanical systems, or solar orientation of the building:

Topographical features that influence drainage and air movement;
Groundwater and surface runoff characteristics;
Solar access;
Air movement patterns;
Neighboring developments and proposed future developments, and
Parcel shape and access.

These all will have a C&D waste element attached to them. Street design and orientation of streets can preserve existing vegetation, maintain water quality, and take advantage of solar energy and thus reduce the C&D waste stream. Less paved surface area allows you to retain more native vegetation. Sidewalks on only one side of the street, or paved foot paths in place of sidewalks, can result in significant cost savings and waste reduction.

Narrower streets provide space for grassy swales (shallow ditches), which prevent erosion by slowing down and filtering rainfall, allowing it to percolate into the soil. In contrast, standard street design directs runoff to storm drains, which empty into streams. Runoff from storm drains not only washes away soil, but also carries construction waste, oil, combustion by-products, and other pollutants directly to surface waters.

Designing residential streets to run east-west allows most houses to have a north-south orientation. A southern exposure allows buildings to collect solar energy for heat. Major glazing areas facing south and north receive the best combination of winter warming, summer shading, and day lighting potential. Concurrently, overheating problems from glazing on east or west sides of the house will be reduced or eliminated.

Some designers and contractors are skeptical about the strength, durability, or cost of recycled products; however, many "green" products are currently being used in the construction industry. Here are a few areas where materials with recycled content can be used:

Foundations - use of waste fly ash in poured foundations, lighter weight concrete and hollow blocks, panelized foundation
Wall systems - thin wall technology, expanded polystyrene foam form blocks, autoclaved cellular concrete.
Framing - glue-laminated lumber beams, engineered I-joists and wood fiber products, laminated veneer lumber, steel framing, finger- jointed lumber, oriented strand board (OSB).
Panel and Block Systems - stress-skin panels faced with OSB, honeycomb panels, autoclaved cellular concrete.
Sheathing - OSB; sheathing made from recycled magazines and waste wood chips; plasterboard of perlite, gypsum, and newsprint; fiberboard from agricultural by-products or from recycled newspaper.
Windows and Doors - new composites for doors and windows, doors with lightweight foam cores and composite skins.
Roofing - slates and shingles made from fiber-cement composites, recycled aluminum, recycled plastic, and remanufactured wood fiber; traditional organic asphalt shingles with recycled mixed waste paper.
Exterior Siding, Fascia, and Trim - engineered wood siding and trim, fiber-cement composites, aluminum or steel siding products.
Insulation, Soundproofing, and Fireproofing - insulation made from cellulose and mineral slag, mineral fiber insulation.
Interior Walls and Ceilings - hardboard made from waste wood; fiberboard made from perlite, gypsum, and recycled post-consumer newsprint; 100% recycled newsprint fiberboard; wallpaper made from recycled paper and wood chips.
Carpet Underlayment - products that use recycled paper, jute, rubber, or agricultural fiber.
Floor Coverings - carpet and tile made from recycled products, cork flooring, recovered wood from demolition or remodeling projects.
Deck and Landscaping Lumber - composite lumber made from recycled wood fibers and scrap plastic, recycled plastic lumber.

When you have completed your design review to reduce the amount of material used in your project, you can proceed to calculate your potential savings if you were to employ a waste minimization plan. Clearly, you will want to determine whether or not this approach is economically feasible.

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