USGBC Event Includes Recycling Reports

At the GreenBuild International Conference & Expo, sponsored by the U.S. Green Building Council and held Nov. 10-13 in Pittsburgh, two sessions focused on construction waste management, C&D recycling and deconstruction.

At the first, entitled, “Deconstruction, Reduction, and Reuse,” Dan Burgoyne, sustainability manager with California’s Department of General Services, said the state has required construction waste management programs that promote recycling at several of its projects.

His advice is to start early with the planning on those projects, beginning with the design phase. In addition, make sure recycling requirements are in the bid specs, and starting from the demolition phase, make the contractor submit an update on recycling rates. That way, if the rates are too low, work can be done to raise them to the expected 50 percent or 75 percent requirement.

Tom Napier of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Construction Engineering Laboratory reported on recycling and reuse efforts at the military’s decommissioned bases. He cited a pilot study at Fort Campbell in Kentucky where five buildings were deconstructed and the components resold. On the interior, some tongue-in-groove flooring was recovered while on the exterior vinyl siding was set aside. But by far the biggest yield came from the framing materials of the buildings, yielding boards and beams.

Michael Pulaski, a doctoral student at Penn State University, and Christopher Hewitt, of the American Institute of Steel Construction, presented ideas on how modern buildings can be designed and constructed to allow for easy deconstruction in the future.

The idea is not so far-fetched, they say, pointing out that Toyota is now designing and building its automobiles for easier later disassembly.

A second session, Construction Waste Management—Tools &_Strategies, started out with Vance Freymann and John Tessicini of Consigli Construction Co. Inc., Boston, outlining a pilot program their company enacted to perform maximum C&D recycling. They reported that with the oncoming Massachusetts ban on unprocessed C&D waste going to landfills, construction contractors there have three choices:

• Recycle materials on site, or source separate the materials there and send to specific-material recyclers;

• Send mixed C&D dumpsters to sorting facilities that separate the materials for further processing;

• Be prepared to ship the materials to out-of-state landfills.

Consigli prefers the first option as the one providing the most cost savings, with Freymann saying that the other two being more expensive.

Freymann emphasized that a waster and recycling management plan needs to be set in place early, with lots of planning behind it, in order for it to work. All the company’s employees had to be trained to follow the plan, as did the subcontractors. Indeed, the recycling language was put into all bid proposals and contracts.

Ann Ludwig, Alameda County (Calif.) Waste Management Authority, spoke on how to attain as much as a 75 percent C&D diversion rate for construction and demolition projects. To do that she advised three tactics:

• Know where recyclers of any and all materials are located, which means a lot of legwork;

• Use performance measurements, not proscriptive methods, to increase recycling rates. She emphasized to leave it up to the contractor to meet the goal, not tell him or her how to do it;

• Follow up religiously. Make sure to ask for and receive documentation on how many tons were diverted to recycling centers, and what those centers’ recycling rates were.

All this is backed up by ordinances developed by the authority that require construction waste management and high levels of recycling at construction sites. The ordinances have been adopted by all the major municipalities in the county, she added.

Ludwig said that many of the contractors relied on the several mixed C&D processors in the area to recycle the material they generated. Not using mixed C&D recycling plants will not allow such high levels to be attained, she remarked.

Several individuals from the Washington, D.C., area who helped form the Construction Material Recovery Coalition demonstrated how they formed an ad-hoc organization to spur C&D materials recycling in their region.

According to Teresa Pohlman of the Pentagon Renovation Program, the coalition of volunteers from private companies and municipal, state and federal agencies has worked to build a database of recyclers in their region; create a guidebook for contractors to follow when recycling on site; collected and disseminated information to “dispel myths” about recycling; and urged applicable agencies to “make [on-site recycling] part of their business practices.”

The GreenBuild International Conference & Expo brought together more than 5,000 contractors, architects, engineers, building suppliers and government purchasers and regulators for a week-long event centering on environmentally sound building and facility maintenance practices.