C&D Firms Recognized in California with Award

The state of California’s Integrated Waste Management Board has announced the winners of its annual Waste Reduction Awards program.

Of the five major winners, two are involved in recycling of construction and demolitiono material.

The winners are the following: Interior Removal Specialists, Numi LLC, Pacific Builders, Seton Medical Center, and Toyota motor Sales USA.

For Interior Removal Specialist, the award is one of many the company has received over the past seven years. The company already has received the award from the CIWMB every year since 2001.

According to a spokesman for IRS, the company is the only construction and demolition recycling firm that he knows of that specializes in tenant improvement. However, the company is first and foremost a demolition contractor.

In recognizing IRS, based in South Gate, Calif., the agency noted that the company has broken new ground by recycling more than 17,200 tons of drywall and 1,363 tons of ceiling tiles, making the company the largest recycler of ceiling tiles in the Western United States.

The company estimates that it recycles more than 72 percent of all the debris removed from their demolition projects.\

Interior Removal Specialist, Inc. is recycling more carpet than any other construction and demolition facility in California and is the state's largest supplier of post consumer drywall being recycled for agricultural purposes. Their efforts in the past have earned them the coveted Governors Award for Environmental and Economic Leadership in 2005, and they received two international recycling awards from the Solid Waste Association of North America at their annual conference last year in North Carolina.

One of their unique programs is to make available thousands of tons of salvaged items from demolition jobs to any nonprofit entity that can use them. To date they have donated more than 3,500 tons of materials ranging from desks and chairs to computers and building materials to hundreds of area non profits that have no other source for the supplies that they need. A complete list of donation recipients is available upon request.

Pacific Builders, another one of the main winners, takes the extra steps to divert materials from the local landfill and work towards zero waste. As a small general contracting company for commercial construction its main goal is to divert construction landfill waste materials generated on projects sites.

All wood, concrete, asphalt, brick, cardboard, asphalt shingles, plastic sheeting, green waste, metal scrap and reusable fixtures are directed to construction and demolition debris licensed recycling facility, local recycling center, salvage operations, or a local non profit.

Out of a total of 842.36 tons of construction waste debris generated between May 2005 and July 2006, Pacific Builders was able to divert 546 tons from the landfill. This gives Pacific Builders an overall diversion rate of 65 percent. By using focused resource management plans, a total savings of $156,089.00 was accomplished in the overall efforts to recycle and reuse. The Pacific Builders office uses a recycling program and focuses on material procurement to help reduce their footprint before the end waste is created on their projects. Pacific Builders continues to work within their community to educate and encourage waste reduction efforts as well as continue to develop their resource management programs to keep C&D debris out of the landfill.