Second to none: RSI recycles mixed C&D debris in Chicago, America's Second City.

In 2004, the city of Chicago put an ordinance on the books that requires at least a 25 percent recycling rate at virtually all construction and demolition projects, a rate that will escalate to 50 percent in 2007. In response, a few mixed C&D recycling centers have sprung up in and around the city that help the contractors meet those mandates. But a one-year-old facility, CMRA member Recycling Services Inc. (RSI), located in the heart of the city, was already planned three years before the ordinance came along.

"We didn't build this operation because the city was planning the ordinance," says Jerry Golf, principal of RSI. "We built it because we saw the trend, and public pressure was toward recycling. The ordinance just happened after the fact, and we support it." RSI, which also has a 30-truck related hauling service, has set up a C&D recycling facility within 10 miles of the Second City's Loop downtown area, a facility permitted to handle 2,400 cubic yards of material every day, which Golf estimates to be about 1,800 to 2,000 tons per day. This is in a city with a recycling ordinance that construction and demolition contractors are finding out is being enforced.

Cal King, manager, says it seems at first the contractors wanted to wait and see whether the ordinance was really going to take place. "We have been giving tours and seminars for our existing customers. Now we are hearing from new contractors daily as they pick up their recycling paperwork when they apply for a new permit."

In addition, in its one year of existence, the facility has already successfully handled six projects seeking Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification, providing these projects with the 75 percent recycling rate they need to receive the full two points for recycling construction materials available under the program.

But King says that the recycling requirement does not cost the contractors who dump at the site any more than it does at other landfill disposal options, saying the tipping fees are competitive. "We do have higher processing costs than landfill disposal," he says, "but we feel in many cases we are mitigating that with the material we are recycling and recovering."

RSI also can provide its customers with several reports it needs for compliance with either the city ordinance or LEED program. "The city requires the general contractor to fill in a four-page compliance document. That makes sense because they know the project name, permit and information like that," says King. "Plus, if there is a portion of the project separate from us, such as a demo contractor in there, first we need to get that information from him and put it together with our information for all the materials we have hauled and recycled for a summary report." RSI provides the recycler a final affidavit as required by the ordinance.

Adds Richard Golf, another principal, "We are also producing a ticket that, per load, segregates the material that was dumped here--what percentage was wood, concrete, etc. Part of the city's requirement is that if an inspector shows up on the job site during the course of the project, the job foreman needs to show some proof that they are recycling at least 25 percent. They can use those tickets as proof to the inspector."

OPERATIONS

RSI is basically one long sorting facility located on a 5-acre strip of land mostly covered in concrete and bordered on two sides by an industrial canal and other heavy industry on the other two. As befits a place that is currently permitted to handle nearly 2,000 tons of C&D per day (and is capable of handling twice that), it is designed for handling heavy truck traffic.

The facility is only two blocks away from Interstate 55, a major highway in the Windy City. Almost all the incoming material comes from 15 miles away or less.

As the trucks pull in, they go on to the first of three scales on the site. It has a camera mounted overhead so the scale operator can see what is in the load. The driver is then told which of the two buildings to dump into--the first structure houses the sorting system, and the other functions as a transfer station and stockpile for heavies and the fines coming out of the first building. The facility also accepts some industrial loads, such as pallets, OCC, packaging, street sweeping and overburden material, but the main focus is C&D.

From the same seat he uses to inspect incoming loads, the scale house operator can watch via various cameras virtually all corners of the facility, which Jerry Golf says is essential to the site's 24-hour operation and security.

A second scale is located in the load out area to measure outgoing product and make sure the vehicles are not overweight, and a third scale weighs the trucks on the way out, so there is no backup at the first scale.

The trucks directed to the processing building tip inside on the concrete floor. Any large items that can't be processed are removed, and the rest is fed by a Caterpillar 320 excavator with a grapple bucket onto an Action vibratory screen that removes the 2-inch minus. These are the fines conveyed to the second building and are an alternative daily cover (ADC) product.

The rest of the material travels up a conveyor line to a seven-station picking line that can allow four pickers at each station. Jerry Golf says the composition of the incoming material determines what is picked at what station. "Some days we will have two stations picking wood, some days only one," he says. The sorters are also recovering OCC, brick, concrete and metals.

Richard Golf adds, "The plastic we get is usually dirty, covered with dirt and concrete, and not in high enough volume to warrant pulling it out. We are still looking most of the time for markets for shingles and drywall." Everything still on the belt at the end of the line is sent to a landfill. Two Caterpillar loaders, a 950G and a 962G, are used to control stockpiles and load out sorted materials.

RSI does no final product processing at the site, instead sending the sorted material to various other recycling companies to make the finished products. Because of the large volume of wood, several vendors receive the material from RSI. "Plenty of people want our wood," says Jerry Golf, "but not a lot of people can handle the volume we create."

HALFWAY THERE

Currently the facility has a recovery rate of 45 percent to 50 percent, a relatively low number that is the product of only having one line open. A second line, identical to the first, is scheduled to open in late spring 2006, and Richard Golf expects that rate to increase dramatically. "Right now we can only handle so much material, and we don't always have the capability to get as many recyclables because we need to turn over the material. The second line will solve that."

Certainly an important part of the team at RSI are the many pickers on the line. They are paid above minimum wage and receive medical benefits, including a dental plan, and an option to join a basic IRA program partly funded by the company. "We have learned over the years in our earlier attempts to recycle that it is better for us to attract and keep employees for the long term," says King. "Turnover is expensive and creates problems. You have to train them, get them new equipment such as masks, hard hats, boots with steel toes."

It also helps with safety, he adds. "Keeping long-term employees helps reduce the risk of someone getting hurt. If somebody is there for a long time and sees the new guy next to him doing something wrong, we train our people to help them out, teach them the better way to do it."

RSI has already proven a better way to do it for the areas contractors, says Jerry Golf. "They really like the idea of having a single commingled box on the job to place material, rather than having to source separate at the site. That would cost them a great deal more because it is more labor intensive. It also saves them space by having the one box as opposed to three or four." Great service and a complete waste recovery solution is RSI's formula for success.

The author is associate publisher of Construction & Demolition Recycling and executive director of the CMRA. He can be contacted at [e-mail].

RSI AT A GLANCE

Principles: Jerry Golf, Cal King, Richard Golf

Location: Chicago

Materials Accepted: C&D debris, pallets, OCC, packaging, street sweeping and overburden material

Amount of C&D Handled: 2,000 tons per day

Recovery Rate: 45-50 percent

Additional Operations: 30-truck hauling service