Tag Archives: demolition debris

Policy/Regulations/Government, Waste News

NYC closes the loop on gypsum wallboard – Construction & Demolition Recycling

NYC closes the loop on gypsum wallboard

NYC’s VIA 57 West building was one of the first pilot projects to recycle all new construction gypsum trim scrap.

Beyond the environmental impacts, “We’re throwing away valuable resources when we’re not recycling this material,” Kaminsky says. “In landfills, when materials are layered on top of other materials in humid, anaerobic conditions, we can see hydrogen sulfide generation. Gypsum is a major contributor to hydrogen sulfide gas, which is associated with the ‘rotten egg’ smell people are familiar with.”

Source: NYC closes the loop on gypsum wallboard – Construction & Demolition Recycling

Structure Reuse, Waste News

Historical Preservation is Essential for Green Building

the-past-and-future-cityAt the same time, roughly one billion square feet of buildings are demolished and replaced every year in the United States. According to an analysis by the Brookings Institution, the country is in the midst of demolishing and replacing 82 billion square feet of existing space — nearly a quarter of the existing building stock — by 2030.

That is an astonishing amount of waste. In fact, the energy used to demolish and rebuild that much space could power the entire state of California for a decade! According to a formula produced for the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, about 80 billion British thermal units (Btus) of energy are embodied in a typical 50,000-square-foot commercial building.

Source: Historical Preservation is Essential for Green Building

Waste News

Construction waste overwhelms Metro Vancouver | Vancouver 24 hrs

Henderson said getting people to recycle more isn’t the issue. About three-quarters of all waste from construction and demolition are already being recycled. Rather, it’s the capacity limitations of the region’s 12 recycling facilities that’s now emerging as a concern.

Source: Construction waste overwhelms Metro Vancouver | Vancouver 24 hrs

Waste News

Demolition debris increasingly recycled into new products – TwinCities.com

A really excellent article out of the Twin Cities.Com site. One of the more comprehensive news stories that captures the invisibility of demolition debris.

Chuck Alvord’s job used to be so simple.

Smash. Remove. Repeat.

But today, Alvord and others in the demolition business don’t destroy buildings as much as recycle them — and saving about 70 percent of what they find.

“When I started, we’d just take it all to the landfill,” said Alvord, the site superintendent for the demolition of a library in Minneapolis. Now, his buildings are carefully taken apart to separate the concrete, metals, wood, shingles and lights.

Buildings have become the surprising star of the recycling movement.

The 70 percent average of materials recycled is more than twice the recycling rate for cans, bottles, paper and plastic, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

The demolition recycling rate has shot up in the past decade and now exceeds the weight of recycled materials from consumer sources.

“We do it because it’s good for the environment, and it’s good PR,” said Mike Taylor, director of the National Demolition Association. “And you can make billions of dollars doing it.”

The surge in building recycling has gone largely unnoticed, said Bill Turley, director of the Construction Materials Recycling Association.

“When you tear up a highway or take down a shopping center, the general public doesn’t realize how much goes into landfills,” Turley said.

Don’t miss the rest of the article via Demolition debris increasingly recycled into new products – TwinCities.com.