End of life disposal of building materials may also lead
to environmental emissions of PFAS. Large amounts
of waste building materials are disposed of in municipal solid waste and construction and demolition landfills, and leachate from both types of landfills contains
PFAS.255 PFAS-containing building products may also
be sent to municipal solid waste incinerators, which
have the potential to release PFAS emissions into air.
Category Archives: Waste News
End-of-life plan urged for wind turbines – Australian Associated Press
Australia has to come up with an end-of-life plan for used wind turbines, says a leading academic. Image by Mick Tsikas/AAP PHOTOS
“It is not realistic to expect a market-based recycling solution to emerge, so policymakers need to step in now and plan what we’re going to do with all these blades that will come offline in the next few years.”
Source: End-of-life plan urged for wind turbines – Australian Associated Press
Moving toward next-generation wind blade recycling | CompositesWorld
Photo Credit: Vestas Wind Systems A/S
Suppliers, fabricators and OEMs across the composite wind blade supply chain ramp up existing technologies, develop better reclamation methods and design more recyclable wind blades.
Source: Moving toward next-generation wind blade recycling | CompositesWorld
Iconic St. Scholastica building in Fort Smith to be demolished – Talk Business & Politics
While the former monastery is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, that does not prohibit the building from being demolished. According to information on the National Register of Historic Places website. Owners’ rights do not change when the property is listed on the register.
Source: Iconic St. Scholastica building in Fort Smith to be demolished – Talk Business & Politics
Plastic-eating Enzyme Could Eliminate Billions of Tons of Landfill Waste – UT News
“This work really demonstrates the power of bringing together different disciplines, from synthetic biology to chemical engineering to artificial intelligence,” said Andrew Ellington, professor in the Center for Systems and Synthetic Biology whose team led the development of the machine learning model.
Source: Plastic-eating Enzyme Could Eliminate Billions of Tons of Landfill Waste – UT News
Going Circular Documentary: Trailer – YouTube
Going Circular Documentary: Trailer
93-year-old former state governor outlasts viaduct he helped design – YouTube
Dan Evans was one of the designers of the two-mile long structure that stood as an alternative to the busy city streets and boasted impressive views of Elliott Bay and the Olympic Mountains.
Tearing down the Alaskan Way Viaduct and transforming Seattle’s waterfront – YouTube
The Alaskan Way Viaduct was a double-deck concrete highway that marked Seattle’s waterfront for more than 60 years.
These scientists want to solve the solar e-waste crisis – The Verge
Tang Dehong / Costfoto/Future Publishing via Getty Images
If all goes well, a cleaner and more cost-effective solar recycling process could reach the market right as the first wave of solar panels hits the waste stream. “As we’re ramping up clean energy manufacturing, producing more clean energy tech, thinking about recycling at the end of life becomes even more important,” says Diana Bauer, acting deputy director of the Advanced Manufacturing Office at DOE.
Source: These scientists want to solve the solar e-waste crisis – The Verge
The meters-high mountain of mannequins in the Midlands – YouTube
My first thought was “don’t those mannequins rot, just sitting out there in the weather?” And then I realised: no, not really, they’re fibreglass.
Scientists use sunlight and modified sawdust to reversibly capture carbon dioxide
How the sunlight-controlled CO2 separation installation works. Credit: Shiming Zhang, Renmin University of China.
In a study published in the journal Green Energy & Environment, a group of researchers from Renmin University of China propose a new method to capture CO2 using sunlight as the energy source and modified sawdust as the CO2 absorbent
Source: Scientists use sunlight and modified sawdust to reversibly capture carbon dioxide
Could Plants Help Solve Our Addiction to Mining? – YouTube
Agro-mining is the process of growing plants that absorb metals from the ground.
Concrete Doesn’t Have to Be an Ecological Nightmare
Clockwise from upper left: the Pantheon in Rome; Boston City Hall; Saarinen’s TWA terminal at JFK airport; Zaha Hadid’s Sheikh Zayed Bridge in Dubai. Photo: Getty Images
Today, cooking one ton of cement yields nearly a ton of CO2, and concrete plants pump out nearly 8 percent of the world’s carbon emissions. Since an ever-growing population can’t wean itself from its primary building material, warding off climate change is going to require a cleaner way to make it.
Oldest Photographs of the Largest Trees to Ever Exist in Recorded History (Pre-1900 Images) 400 FT + – YouTube
For reference, the current “tallest tree” in the world is said to be Hyperion at roughly 380 feet tall. Today we will focus on trees (with measurements given) from the 1800’s that stood over 400 feet tall (and take a look at their unique photographs).
Waste crisis is a “design-made mess” says Waste Age show curator
Studio Drift deconstructed a VW Beetle into its constituent materials
“I think they’re some of the most important architects working today because they don’t believe in demolition,” McGuirk said. “The sheer waste of embodied carbon and energy is ludicrous.”
Source: Waste crisis is a “design-made mess” says Waste Age show curator
15 buildings in China get demolished simultaneously | USA TODAY – YouTube
The 15 buildings that stood next to each other for seven years were demolished in China. They were abandoned with rain damage.
Iqaluit’s water crisis unveils a bigger problem: There’s no recycling in the Arctic | Canada’s National Observer: News & Analysis
Residents of Iqaluit, the capital city of Nunavut, have been without clean drinking water since last week. Photo by Timothy Neesam / Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
“Unlike most southern Canadians, we have faced chronic, large, and growing municipal infrastructure gaps for decades,” wrote Natan Obed, president of the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK), an organization representing Inuit in Canada, in a forward to the report. “We currently have little to no direct decision-making involvement in the recycling, reduction, or diversion of the paper, cardboard, plastics, hazardous materials, and e-waste filling our landfills, threatening our freshwater supplies and locally harve
WindEurope CEO visits German cement plant that’s running on blade waste | WindEurope
On 4 October WindEurope CEO Giles Dickson visited Holcim’s Lägerdorf plant in Germany, together with Claudia Grotz of Siemens Gamesa and Chair of WindEurope’s Sustainability Working Group. They met the Geocycle team who are using wind turbines blade waste to generate heat and ash to help make cement. It’s currently the only such cement plant in Europe that’s using blade waste.
The organic content of blade waste is recovered as thermal energy while the mineral fraction of the waste is integrated as ash in the matrix of the cement clinker the plant produces. This reduces the carbon footprint of cement production and makes it more resource efficient. This is because the blade waste substitutes (partially) for fossil fuels in the incineration process and for other materials in the clinker production process. One tonne of blade waste reduces CO2 emissions by 110 kg and saves 461 kg of raw materials.
Source: WindEurope CEO visits German cement plant that’s running on blade waste | WindEurope
A Ukrainian Oligarch Bought a Midwestern Factory and Let it Rot. What Was Really Going On? – POLITICO
The story of Harvard suggests that lax U.S. laws around shell companies and real-estate purchases, in addition to a broader lack of regulatory oversight, may be putting America’s heartland in the crosshairs of elites like Kolomoisky. It’s a reality of global corruption that U.S. lawmakers are only just starting to grapple with: As money-launderers and illicit financiers hide their money in the American Midwest, they’ve become part of the story of the decline of small-town, blue-collar America.
New York’s LOST Skyscraper – The Rise and Fall of SINGER TOWER – IT’S HISTORY – YouTube
The Singer building was one of the worlds most beautiful examples of urban architecture – now it is an example of poor historic preservation.
Repurposing Single-Use Products in the Construction Industry | INN
According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, approximately 11 million tons of asphalt roofing shingles are disposed of each year, contributing to over a million tons of waste produced by the roofing industry and companies are increasingly looking for methods to both offset their carbon footprint from re-using single-use products and find environmentally-friendly sourced products for their businesses. Landfills across North America are already over-crowded. Single-use asphalt shingles do not biodegrade or decompose and will sit in landfills for hundreds of years.
Source: Repurposing Single-Use Products in the Construction Industry | INN
Carmichael Tower East implosion – YouTube
Vanderbilt University conducted a controlled implosion of Carmichael Towers East on Saturday morning.
Local hazards grow as Americans churn out more garbage, United States News & Top Stories – The Straits Times
More than 90 per cent of the 230,000 tons of construction waste ReEnergy accepted in 2019 came from out-of-state, according to its annual report. After processing, ReEnergy said it sent 93 per cent of the imported trash to the Juniper Ridge landfill, which while owned by the state is operated by a private company, New England Waste Service of Maine, a subsidiary of Casella Waste Systems. Casella collects a “tipping fee” from ReEnergy for taking its waste. Fees for construction and demolition debris vary, but range from US$33 to US$95 per ton, according to the state’s environmental agency.
A moment before they were destroyed, they could be seen again | Amanda Williams | UNIQLO ARTSPEAKS – YouTube
Forgotten sections of Chicago’s south side Englewood neighborhood are, however briefly, made visible again by members of the community.
600,000 Tonnes of Floor Covering Goes to Landfill Each Year in UK – What Can We Learn from Holland? – YouTube
600,000 Tonnes of Floor Covering Goes to Landfill Each Year in UK – What Can We Learn from Holland?
Brookhaven residents: We don’t want to become ‘garbage capital’ | Newsday
Gershow Recycling Corp. is asking Brookhaven Town for approvals to build a waste transfer station near Long Island Rail Road tracks. Credit: Barry Sloan
“Any sustainable waste plan must include efforts to actually bring down waste,” said Abena Asare of Brookhaven hamlet, a member of the Brookhaven Landfill Action & Remediation Group. The community group supports alternatives to landfills that they say disproportionately are sited in minority and low-income communities.
Source: Brookhaven residents: We don’t want to become ‘garbage capital’ | Newsday
Treasures saved during a life of demolition | Stuff.co.nz
“It’s too good to throw away.”
Source: Treasures saved during a life of demolition | Stuff.co.nz
3D printed house: Builders say the method will reduce new home construction costs – CNN
SQ4D’s completed proof of concept and demo home. SQ4D says it is the world’s largest permitted 3D printed home at 1,900 square feet.
“The cost of construction is 50% cheaper than the cost of comparable newly-constructed homes in Riverhead, New York, and 10 times faster,” said Stephen King, the Zillow Premier agent who has the 3D house listing. The 3D printed house will include 1,407 square feet of living space and will be built with concrete.
Source: 3D printed house: Builders say the method will reduce new home construction costs – CNN
Mann Case Sets Precedent For Building Material Reuse Tax Charitable Valuation
be responsible and protect ecological environment, GETTY
If you are donating a “whole house” the house will be relocated off your property. Otherwise you are donating pieces of the house. Material destroyed in the deconstruction is not part of what you get credit for in valuing your deduction.
Source: Mann Case Sets Precedent For Building Material Reuse Tax Charitable Valuation
What happens to all the material after the Super Bowl?
“I know it might seem small to you but to get two pallets of napkins I’m not gonna have to buy napkins for two years from the Salvation Army and we serve more than 300 meals a day,” said Captain Andy Miller, the area commander of the Salvation Army in Tampa.
Source: What happens to all the material after the Super Bowl?
Colorado grant opportunities provide funding for recycling projects – Construction & Demolition Recycling
This option focuses on reduction and diversion of construction and demolition waste, including gypsum wallboard, treated wood, reclaimed asphalt shingles, carpet tiles and construction plastics. The RFA has more information.
National circular economy hub to lead way in UK bid to create a sustainable future | Mirage News
“By effecting a step change in how we use and reuse resources, the move to a circular economy will deliver major environmental and economic benefits and is an essential element of making net zero a reality.”
Source: National circular economy hub to lead way in UK bid to create a sustainable future | Mirage News
How to reuse or recycle Christmas trees in Philadelphia – WHYY
Christmas trees put out in the trash in Philadelphia’s Port Richmond neighborhood. (Kimberly Paynter/WHYY)
“By recycling them and returning them to the earth, we reduce our waste costs and create a valuable resource,” he said.Options include composting your tree, recycling it into chips, feeding the green to goats, turning it into a barrier to protect dunes from erosion, or even cooking, using pine needles like herbs.
Source: How to reuse or recycle Christmas trees in Philadelphia – WHYY
World’s First Plane – Made & Powered By Hemp – Is 10 Times Stronger Than Steel
Hemp is lighter than traditional aerospace materials (such as aluminium and fiberglass) and therefore requires a lot less fuel to reach a high altitude. Most importantly, hemp is non-toxic, sustainable, requires way less water and land to grow than cotton, and compared to steel or carbon fibre, has almost no environmental impact.
Source: World’s First Plane – Made & Powered By Hemp – Is 10 Times Stronger Than Steel
Aspen City Council puts its money where its mouth is for waste diversion program | News | aspendailynews.com
Aspen City Council has committed funding for a comprehensive waste management plan to provide incentives for recyclable and compostable materials to be diverted from the landfill.
She also told the council that unlike other communities that may benefit from a public-private warehouse that could give construction materials a new life, the local market is not in the mood for second-hand materials. “The concept of taking someone else’s used building materials and using it in a new construction project, the audience for that is limited,” Chapman said.
As salvaging reopens, YK says dump has changed for the better
“In general, we’re just trying to be strategic with how waste is handled and processed on-site so that it’s safe, we’re compliant to regulations, and people really take pride in the Yellowknife landfill.”
Source: As salvaging reopens, YK says dump has changed for the better
Retrofits versus building new: we need whole of industry change | The Fifth Estate
More than 20 million tonnes (or megatonnes, MT) of waste was generated in 2017 from the construction and demolition industry – more than a third of Australia’s waste production. And nearly all of it is sent to landfill.
Source: Retrofits versus building new: we need whole of industry change | The Fifth Estate
Angry Sheffield man cheered on as he stages camp chair protest in middle of construction site – YorkshireLive
Conor set up a camping chair as part of a peaceful protest (Image: Jake Loader)
Demolition work at the University of Sheffield’s Social Sciences building was brought to a halt for two hours after a resident sat in a camping chair on the site in protest against the “deafening” noise levels.
‘I say go for it’: Froggy’s widow won’t stand in the way of the building’s demolition | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Christian Snyder / Post-Gazette
John Jackson, senior vice president of the Cushman & Wakefield/Grant Street Associates real estate firm, also testified that reusing the buildings for office and commercial purposes didn’t make sense financially.
“Green” recyclable rubber gives new life to single-use building materials
Researchers have developed a new type of rubber polymer that can be combined with various waste materials and repeatedly recycledfranckito/Depositphotos
This allows the material to be shaped into tubing, coatings, bumpers, insulation, and many other things you’d normally find made of rubber. But the important thing is that this isn’t the end of the story. Once these products have worn out or are no longer needed, they aren’t just thrown away – the rubber can be ground up into powder, placed back into a mold, and recycled into something new.
Source: “Green” recyclable rubber gives new life to single-use building materials
Demolition of Building Underway Despite Neighborhood Opposition – ColumbusUnderground.com
The building on May 7, when demolition had begun on the rear addition. Photos by Brent Warren.
“We believe value should be placed on the fact that it is the last of the original grand homes and apartments that originally stood on 18th St.,” the letter reads. “We’ve supported efforts to demolish buildings for the child care center expansion but do not believe a surface parking lot is reasonable justification to entirely erase our history.”
Source: Demolition of Building Underway Despite Neighborhood Opposition – ColumbusUnderground.com
Construction Causes Major Pollution. Here’s How We Can Build Better. | HuffPost
HINDUSTAN TIMES VIA GETTY IMAGES
Concrete mixing machines line up at the construction site for high-rise buildings on April 10 in Kolkata, India.
The construction industry — from the mining and smelting of raw materials to dealing with the waste from demolished structures — has a huge environmental footprint that is often overlooked. It produces 11% of global greenhouse gas emissions. That’s a staggeringly high number, four times the emissions of the whole aviation sector.
Source: Construction Causes Major Pollution. Here’s How We Can Build Better. | HuffPost
Your discarded carpet is poisoning the Earth with PFAS | NC Policy Watch
“What’s allowed to disposed of — the materials management — we want to use the science and the data to properly regulate it,” Brinchek said. “We are the receivers of the material, not the generators.”
Source: Your discarded carpet is poisoning the Earth with PFAS | NC Policy Watch
Once demolition permit is sought, it may be too late to stop wrecking ball – The Buffalo News
A demolition crew tore down 184 W. Utica St. on Feb. 27. The green light by the city came two days after the Buffalo Preservation Board voted unanimously to landmark the 1907 building designed by Albert Schallmo, an architect who worked on the acclaimed Blessed Trinity Church on the East Side. (John Hickey/Buffalo News)
“The irony here is while the demolition was happening on West Utica, on the front page of the Buffalo paper that day was a quote from director Guillermo Del Toro saying that the whole reason he selected Buffalo to film ‘Nightmare Alley’ was because of the quality of the architecture in our city,” Howard said.
Source: Once demolition permit is sought, it may be too late to stop wrecking ball – The Buffalo News
‘No-waste’ Japanese village is a peek into carbon-neutral future | World news | The Guardian
Household waste in Kamikatsu must be sorted into no fewer than 45 categories. Photograph: Kazuhiro Nogi/AFP via Getty Images
Household waste must be separated into no fewer than 45 categories, before being taken to a collection centre where volunteers ensure items go into the correct bin, occasionally issuing polite reminders to anyone who forgets to take the lid and label off a plastic bottle or remove nails from a plank of wood.
Source: ‘No-waste’ Japanese village is a peek into carbon-neutral future | World news | The Guardian
Here’s how we can recycle more buildings | CityMetric
Image: author provided.
Advanced sensors and AI that can detect quickly and determine accurately what can be used among CDW and efficient robotic sorting could aid circular construction by vastly improving the recycling of a wide range of materials. The focus should be on the smart dismantling of buildings and ways of optimising cost-effective processes.
Source: Here’s how we can recycle more buildings | CityMetric
In My Opinion: Old forests, not clearcuts, are climate solutions – By Samantha Krop – The Register-Guard – Eugene, OR
Put simply, logging is not a carbon solution. All told, the logging industry is the largest fossil fuel emitter in our state. In 2016, the Oregon Global Warming Commission reported that the wood products sector itself contributed 50% more pollution than the transportation and energy sector combined.
Embedawatt: Valuing What We Have – – The Adirondack Almanack
Illustrations: Above, the symbol for the Embedawatt, as envisioned by AARCH staff; and below a Medium Sized House Energy Chart courtesy of Jerry Jenkins (from Climate Change in the Adirondacks).
Assuming the new house is more energy efficient than an existing house, it still takes an average of 40 years for an energy efficient new house to recover the energy and carbon expended in the construction of the house (Empty Homes Agency, 2008).
Source: Embedawatt: Valuing What We Have – – The Adirondack Almanack
What if we never demolished another building? | News | Archinect
“It requires a fundamental shift in our attitude to materials.”
Source: What if we never demolished another building? | News | Archinect
Demolition uncovers antique log building in Pennsylvania | WBNS-10TV Columbus, Ohio
WNEP
“After our demolition contractor started pulling the outsides of the building off, (we) discovered there was a log cabin in there,” said council president Frank Dombroski.