CMRA goes green.

* The Construction Materials Recycling Association (CMRA) was overwhelmed by the response it received exhibiting at the recent Greenbuild conference in Denver, according to the association's executive director, William Turley. The event, which attracted more than 13,000 attendees and 700 exhibitors, is the U.S. Green Building Council's (USGBC) main meeting place for those interested in green building and the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program.

LEED is a point-based system that ranks the environmental quality of a building project. Among the points received are those for construction waste management, which is basically reusing and recycling the materials generated during demolition and construction. While these are some of the most commonly gained points on LEED projects, it can be frustrating for general contractors and architects when they cannot find a C&D recycler to process those materials. Currently, there is no national list of C&D recyclers for them to reference.

To help solve that problem the CMRA passed out lists of its member companies from its booth at Greenbuild. The response was overwhelming, says Turley. "We could not keep the lists in the booth. We had to go to the business office copy center twice to make more copies, and I personally ran out of business cards after bringing a couple of hundred."

In response to the situation, the CMRA has posted its member list on its Web site, www.cdrecycling.org. But because the CMRA has received inquiries from USGBC regarding specific products and practices in C&D recycling, it was determined there was a need to help the USGBC get an accurate handle on the C&D recycling industry's capabilities.

Inquiries included whether the use of ADC made from C&D should count toward LEED recycling credit and concerns about wood fuel made from C&D material.