Covenant Health to recycle 94 percent of demolition debris

The $450 million demolition of Covenant Medical Center, Lubbock, Texas, is months away from being completed, but the lion’s share of the site’s materials has already found a second home, according to a report from NewsWest9.com.

Covenant Health, which oversees the operation of Covenant Medical Center, stipulated that recycling be made a priority as part of the demolition. As such, 6,000 tons of metal will be recycled, along with 12,000 tons of brick and 38,500 tons of concrete that will be repurposed from the site. The emphasis on recycling and repurposing will leave only 3,500 tons, or 6 percent of the total material derived from the demolition, to be landfilled.

"When we were talking to our caregivers when we were designing this project, one of the questions we got asked very frequently was, ‘Are we going to do this in a very environmentally friendly way?'” Kelly McDaniel, vice president of Covenant Health, says. "So, it was important to us as an organization, it was also important to our caregivers."

The entire renovation of Covenant Medical Center is slated to be completed by December.