Recycle C&D Debris - C&D Waste Mitigation and Salvage

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C&D Waste Mitigation and Salvage
Numerous waste mitigation strategies exist for C&D waste. Contractor strategies, building code specifications, and a technique called "optimum value engineering" can all help to minimize the C&D waste stream. However, the most important factor is the policy prospective of the political jurisdiction that operates the landfill.

The following list offers examples of strategies that different cities and agencies have employed to mitigate C&D waste, (some of the strategies may have been employed in the commercial industrial marketplace but the concept could be transferred to the residential setting).

The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston's goal was to have no materials land filled as it deconstructed a building on a site it sought to build a larger building upon, but found this goal to be impossible. The University with its architect created drawings wrote specifications and developed guidelines, and a more realistic goal was set to recycle/reuse at least 70% of the total building. A joint venture between the construction manager and a deconstruction contractor was formed to support the UTHSCH's new deconstruction policy. The result was 77% of the material was diverted from the landfill. (College Planning and Management, June 2002)
For the construction of the EPA's Research Triangle Park office in North Carolina, the agency incorporated waste separation and recovery into general contractor specifications. Overall, the project had an 80% recovery rate for C&D debris. "As far as recycling is concerned, [contractors] are generally not used to it, but they are capable of doing it," said Chris Long, EPA Project Manager (EPA, 2003:5).
Santa Monica, California's Green Building program includes requirements for C&D waste management, including the following: (1) a requirement to recycle C&D waste is included in construction contracts; (2) the reuse of salvaged building and landscape materials is required; and (3) interior building components are designed for future disassembly, reuse, and recycling (EPA, 2003:6).
Portland, Oregon's building codes mandate that all construction projects over $25,000 must recycle materials generated at the job site (EPA, 2003:6).
In Portland, Oregon and Chicago, Illinois, haulers that charge by the square foot, do not require roll-off containers and recycle more than 50% of the jobsite waste are the normal service that builders can buy. The haulers time their pick-ups to coincide with the different phases of construction, so that the different materials are picked up separately. Such clean-up services have been effective in areas that have high disposal costs and established existing recycling markets for common construction waste materials (Toolbase, 2004:5).
"Optimum value engineering," also called "efficient framing," is an engineering technique from the homebuilding industry that reduces the amount of wood used in the framing process without compromising structural integrity (EPA, 2003).
King County, Washington, (Seattle), operates the C&D recycling program and has two goals: "First, to assure that job-site material is recycled to the greatest extent possible. And second, to accelerate the adoption of green building practices, technologies, policies and standards in residential and commercial development." The program is active in the educational and outreach arena and operates cutting edge web based tools to assist contractors in gaining knowledge and information. Of particular note are: case studies section generated by the contractors themselves, a directory of recycling businesses, and a step by step guide on how to recycle construction and demolition waste. (King County, Green Building Home page, dnr.metrokc.gov/swd/bizprog)
The City of Los Angeles has formally adopted a 70% diversion goal for the year 2020. To achieve that goal they are actively engaged in the community and in the education and outreach business. One particular innovation which they feel will facilitate reaching their goal is the requirement that all new developments or building expansions must include sufficient space in the building or on the project site to collect and store recyclable materials. This ordinance applies to commercial, mullet-family, and residential construction. (City of Los Angeles Solid Resources Citywide Recycling
The City of San Diego has formally adopted an immediate 50% reduction goal and has implemented selected demolition permit fee, waste disposal fee Waivers as a method to induce businesses to utilize "acceptable recycling facilities for recycling concrete and bricks (City of San Diego Manager's Report).

The EPA recommends that, when contractor bids are initially solicited, that the contractors submitting a bid also be required to submit a plan for reducing, reusing, or recycling the wastes generated onsite. Contractors may be offered the incentive of allowing them to keep the revenues from recycling and savings from avoided landfill costs due to waste reduction. Although it can be difficult to find recycling or reuse markets for some materials, one resource that contractors can consult is the Construction Materials Recycling Association (CMRA), which is an association of C&D debris generators, haulers, processors, recyclers, and re-manufacturers. The contractor plan should include a discussion of the following items (EPA, 2003:7):

Carefully estimate the number of materials that will be needed;
Identify markets for recyclable materials; and
Establish recycling systems onsite and make sure that both contractors and subcontractors receive instructions on sorting their own waste.

Deconstruction, rather than demolition, can also maximize the salvage of materials for reuse or recycling by disassembling buildings and removing materials in stages. Items such as flooring, siding, windows, doors, bricks, plumbing fixtures, ceiling tiles, and structural components can be salvaged. Apart from increased C&D material salvage, deconstruction often brings benefits such as job creation. Deconstruction requires more time and manual labor than does demolition, and in some areas deconstruction is used to train at-risk youth and welfare-to-work program participants (EPA, 2003).

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