Recycling your buildings: it's possible, and its preferable.

Every year for two millennia, the Miwok Plains Indians had to dismantle their village for their annual migration and subsequently rebuild on a new site. Before they started rebuilding their village, the Miwok would bless the construction site.

Native Americans were conscientious of the environmental impact of their actions, including the consequences of their construction and dismantling activities. As a result, the Miwok would conserve the resources they used for construction and be careful not to waste reusable materials. Unfortunately, modern day Americans have not been as conscientious. Over the last 200 years, Americans have used their natural resources freely, while giving little thought to conservation. However, today's Americans are realizing that resource conservation is as vital to our survival as it was to the Miwoks more than 2,000 years ago.

In recent years, much attention has been given to curbside recycling. The collection of materials such as aluminum cans, glass, plastics, and paper has been implemented successfully in many communities across the United States; but the focus now is widening from household life into industry. Recycling efforts can be greatly expanded to include construction and demolition (C&D) debris. C&D debris, including as asphalt, brick, concrete, metals, and wood, are generated at a rate of 237 million tons per year in this country alone. A large portion of this debris is sent to landfills, thus eliminating any economic value it may have.

Materials in any waste stream have a value, which includes the cost of the natural resource plus the energy, labor, and capital used to convert the raw material into a finished product. Therefore, landfilling and ending the waste stream is the least valuable use of a material. Recycling and reuse of waste materials prolongs waste stream and provides an opportunity to reap the highest value from the product. In order to conserve we must extract the most value from our finite resources. C&D debris recycling is unique because it provides both an opportunity to minimize the environmental impact of construction by reducing the demand for natural resources and maximize the value of these resources.

P&R Can Help Recycle C&D

Parks and recreation officials can contribute to resource conservation by implementing C&D debris recycling at their facilities. You can stipulate to the construction or demolition contractor that recycling programs are implemented at the site. Through mandates to the contractor, you can minimize the environmental impact of the C&D activities, and a significant portion of the waste stream can be diverted from landfills to a better use.

The first step is to gain an understanding of what C&D debris recycling options are available and how they can be implemented. C&D debris recycling not only includes the collection of wastes to be reprocessed into new materials but other activities as well. These activities include: construction waste reduction, C&D debris reuse, C&D debris recycling, and building with recycled content materials. All of these options should be implemented to some degree to get the most out of any C&D debris recycling program.

Construction Waste Reduction

Waste reduction means not creating waste in the first place or creating less waste. Not creating waste is the most resource-, economic-, and energy-efficient means of managing waste. But through waste reduction, resources are conserved, money is saved on disposal, and energy is saved on waste processing. Waste can be reduced by employing several steps during the construction process.

For instance, parks and recreation departments can reduce waste as early as the building design stage. They can favor designs that use standard sizes (e.g., eight-foot lengths) to reduce lumber and wallboard off-cuts. Waste also can be reduced by evaluating designs for using materials efficiently. A design should be eliminated if there appears to be an excess of materials required and replaced with one that produces that same quality building but uses resources more efficiently.

You also can reduce waste at the purchasing and building stages. At the purchasing stage, you can do this by tightening estimating procedures, ensuring that the correct amount of material is brought to the site, asking suppliers to take or buy back excess or rejected items, and encouraging suppliers to reduce the amount of packaging used in delivering materials. At the building site, you can reduce waste by storing and handling materials carefully to prevent loss from weather and other damage and by centralizing wood-cutting operations to make it easier to find offcuts that can be used for smaller measurements. With a little effort, waste can be reduced effectively, not only conserving resources but also saving money.

C&D Debris Reuse

C&D debris reuse is the best way to extract the maximum value from any waste generated at a site. For instance, lumber is valued at between $500 and $750 per ton (see Table 1). If waste lumber is recovered and reused as lumber, it maintains its value at $500 to $750 per ton. However, if the lumber is broken down and recycled to make particleboard, its value decreases to between $190 and $310 per ton.

More severely, if the scrap lumber is recycled to make mulch for landscaping the value decreases to between $4 and $50 per ton. As shown in Table 1, there is approximately a $300 per ton decrease in value from reusing the scrap lumber as lumber and recycling it into particleboard, and a $600 per ton decrease in value from reusing the scrap as lumber and recycling it for landscape mulch.

Reusing C&D debris consists of two steps. The first step is C&D debris recovery, and the second is the actual reuse of the recovered material. During demolition activities, an effort must be made to collect and separate all materials that may be reusable. Consequently, to support markets, salvaged building materials should be used in construction when possible.

At a demolition site, all material that can be reused should be separated first and then collected. Materials such as doors, windows, and cabinets are the most readily reused since they have the highest reuse value due to their high degree of craftsmanship. Once all reusable items are assimilated, these materials either can be reused onsite or shipped off-site either to a construction contractor through a pre-arrangement or to a commodity reuse operation.

Commodity reuse operations are an efficient and equitable way of collecting and dispersing reusable materials. At a commodity reuse facility, durable goods such as doors, windows, cabinets, furniture, and appliances are collected either through donation or purchase. The goods received then are earmarked to be sold to low-income housing providers.

Therefore, a perfectly good commodity is saved from disposal; and an individual on a fixed income gets an opportunity to make a purchase he or she normally could not afford. At a not-forprofit commodity reuse enterprise, all materials donated are tax deductible, so a contractor can save money on disposal costs and simultaneously realize a tax break.

C&D Debris Use

If C&D debris can not be reused, a good portion of its value can be maintained through recycling. Diverting, separating, or removing a material from the solid waste stream, then processing and returning it to use in the form of raw materials or products extends the waste stream. Reuse often is included in the definition of recycling; but for the purposes of this discussion, recycling will include only those activities that break down a material and convert it into a completely new material.

As mentioned, when a material is recycled some of its value is lost, but more is maintained than if the material was sent to a landfill. If a ton of asphalt roofing material is recovered and recycled into parking lot pavement, $17 to $65 is saved. Since the recycled content product--in this case, parking lot pavement--has a decent value, the scrap roofing material can be sold by the demolition contractor to the producer of parking lot pavement for $10 to $60 per ton. However if the same ton of waste roofing material was to be landfilled, a fee (commonly called a tipping fee and ranging between $5 to $100 per ton), would be charged to the demolition contractor for disposal. In this case, the value of the scrap roofing material is maintained, and anywhere from $15 to $160 per ton in revenue is realized by the contractor. This revenue is a combination of saving landfill tipping fees and the per ton price for the scrap roofing materials paid by the asphalt producer.

Table 1 shows other recycled content construction and building materials that can be made from C&D debris. In addition to these examples, concrete can be recycled into aggregate for use in concrete or cement block; and brick, rock, and rubble can be recycled into ornamental stone. In all instances, some value is preserved. Many other uses for C&D debris exist, and the Institute for Local Self-Reliance in Washington, DC, is conducting research on these uses and their associated values and providing communities with technical assistance regarding C&D debris recycling.

Table 1

                           Recycled-content      Price per ton for
C&D                        products made from    recycled-content
debris                     C&D debris            product
Asphalt roofing material   Parking lot pavement  $17--$65
Concrete                   Concrete              $35--$95
                           Cement block          $32--$48
Brick, rock, & rubble      Ornamental stone      $40--$60
Lumber                     Lumber                $500--$750
                           Particleboard         $190--$310
                           Landscaping mulch     $4--$50

Source: Institute for Local Self-Reliance, 1994.

To recycle C&D debris, the components of the C&D waste stream must be separated. Currently, demolition contractors willingly sort C&D debris to eliminate paper, cardboard, and garbage from the waste stream. This makes the C&D debris load acceptable for disposal at a C&D debris landfill. Tipping fees at C&D landfills are lower than at standard landfills, since they accept only those materials that pose less environmental risks and require fewer safeguards such as wood, concrete, and roofing materials. The contractors capability to sort out non-C&D debris indicates that waste material separation on*site is possible.

For recycling to succeed, contractors have to expand the number of materials separated on-site. C&D debris can be separated into its main components: asphalt, brick, concrete, wood, metal, soil, and gypsum. Expansion can be accomplished by dedicating one dumpster for disposal of each material. This degree of separation will produce slightly higher labor costs, but these costs should be more than off-set by landfill avoidance savings and the revenue generated by the sale of the recovered C&D debris.

If on-site sorting proves unfeasible, a hauler can deliver wastes to a material recovery facility (MRF) who will separate the debris for recycling. Many of these MRFs use automated sorting systems that mechanically separate debris into its components. In many instances, these MRFs have tipping fees much lower than C&D landfills, and in some cases, may even be willing to pay for C&D debris depending on the local markets' need for secondary C&D materials.

Building with Recycled-Content Materials

To support markets for recyclables, procurement strategies which emphasize purchasing recycled-content building materials must be used. Through increased purchases of recycled-content materials, the demand for the recyclables used in production increases. Increased demand creates higher prices for recyclables, encouraging further recycling practices. Parks and recreation professionals can use a procurement strategy for their facilities that requires that a recycled-content building material is given preference over a virgin building material.

The conventional wisdom that recycled-content building materials are more expensive and inferior in quality is simply untrue. Recycled-content materials must meet the same specifications as building materials made from virgin feedstock, and in many cases, companies offer guarantees on the products they sell. Additionally, with the implementation of recycling programs and an ever increasing demand for recycled-content building materials, the prices of these materials have fallen, making them competitive with virgin building materials.

There are now hundreds of types of building materials with recycled content. Some other recycled-content building materials include fiberglass insulation containing recycled glass bottles, landscaping timbers and decking made from recycled plastic, drywall made of recycled gypsum from drywall salvage, and paint and primer re-manufactured from salvaged paint. These constitute just a small portion of what's available. You can find additional recycled-content building materials in any number of directories listing recycled-content products.

Table 2 indicates three extensive directories listing recycled-content building materials. These directories provide: type of recycled-content product, product name, manufacturer information, environmental benefits, type of recyclable used, recycled content, and standards met. A recycled-content building material of almost any type can be located for almost any construction need.

Table 2

1. The Harris Directory
Address:                 The Stafford Architects
                         1916 Pike Place, Sutie 705
                         Seattle, Washington 98101-1056
                         202-682-4042
Date of Publication:     1993
Format:                  Computer spreadsheet of recycled content
                         construction and
                         building materials. Products listed by
                         Construction Standards
                         Institute (CSI) Masterformat (a system of
                         numbers and titles
                         for organizing construction information
                         into a standard order).
Number of entries:       652 products.
Information provided:    Product type, product name, product
                         description,
                         environmental benefits (type of
                         recyclable used and recycled
                         content), standards met, manufacturer,
                         manufacturer's
                         address, phone number, fax number,
                         contact, and additional
                         notes.
2. McRecycle USA Database Printout
Address:                 McDonald's Corporation
                         Environmental Affairs Department
                         McDonald's Plaza
                         Oak Brook, Illinois 60521
                         708-575-5779
Date of Publication:     September 2, 1994
Format:                  Printed database listing of recycled
                         content construction and
                         building materials. Products listed by
                         CSI Masterformat.
Number of entries:       1,000 products.
Information provided:    Product type, description, type of
                         recyclable used, recycled
                         content, post-consumer (Y/N), company
                         name, state, phone,
                         McDonald's supplier (Y/N), small
                         manufacturer (Y/N), minority
                         owned (Y/N), manufacturer address, and
                         phone number.
3. Directory of Recycled Content Buiding & Construction Products
Address:                 Clean Washington Center
                         2001 Sixth Avenue, Suite 2700
                         Seattle, Washington 98121
                         206-587-5520
Date of Publication:     August 1992
Format:                  Printed directory of manufacturers
                         producing recycled
                         content construction and building
                         materials. Manufacturers
                         listed by Construction Standards
                         Institute (CSI) Masterformat.
Number of entries:       460 manufacturers.
Information provided:    Description of manufacturer, types of
                         products, description of
                         products, recycled content, post-consumer
                         content, type of
                         recyclable used, remarks, and contact
                         with address, phone
                         number, and fax.

Source: Institute for Local Self-Reliance, 1994.

Taking the Initiative Locally

For C&D debris recovery activities to occur on a large-scale basis, the initiative must be taken at the individual or local level, since very little legislation exists that requires C&D debris recycling programs. In many cases, C&D contractors will understand the benefits of implementing recycling programs and do so voluntarily. However, the less enlightened contractors, without as much foresight, often do not see the long-range benefits and refuse to implement comprehensive C&D recycling programs. When this happens, parks and recreation officials should stipulate in the contract that C&D debris recycling practices be done. Every construction or demolition contract is an opportunity for us to make a contribution to extensive C&D debris recovery, reuse, and recycling. If each of us makes this commitment, the environmental, economic, and social benefits of a full-scale C&D debris recycling program will be realized; and our children--and our children's children--will reap the benefits of a cleaner environment.