IRN Receives Contract To Recycle Construction Debris

St. Paul’s School, Concord, NH, has contracted with the Institution Recycling Network to recycle wastes from the construction of a new athletic center on its Concord campus. St. Paul’s expects to achieve a recycling rate of at least 75 percent of all materials generated as waste from the project.

The IRN hopes to have markets for a large percentage of the construction waste streams. “There’s hardly a single waste material on this site that we won’t be recycling,” says John Gundling, head of Construction Waste Management for the IRN.  “Our list of items to be recycled runs from the wood forms for the concrete foundation to copper trim from the roof, and almost literally everything in between.

One of St. Paul’s criteria for construction waste recycling is that it should not add time or cost to the overall project budget.  This is the most common concern for all owners when they consider construction waste recycling.  The IRN addresses this concern by providing clear training to workers on the site, clearly labeling waste and recycling containers, and matching the containers on site to the specific tasks that are underway.  “We ask employees to work a little bit smarter, not longer or harder,” say’s IRN’s Gundling.  “And we’re typically able to demonstrate that recycling can save 20, 30, or 40 percent of the cost of simply throwing materials away.  Those are the kind of numbers that inspire great cooperation from everyone on the site.”

St. Paul’s athletic center is one of the first projects in New Hampshire that is seeking recognition under the nationwide Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program. LEED is a certification program that recognizes efforts to reduce the environmental impacts of new and renovated buildings.

Points toward LEED certification are awarded in such areas as energy reduction, use of renewable or locally produced building materials, and minimization of water use.