A Regional Construction & Demolition Materials Toolkit

ecourbanstl — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 17:50:44 +0000

The St. Louis Region and the Midwest are blessed with much open space, which means that it is easy to overlook where our residential and commercial waste ends up. Our landfill tipping fees, i.e. “the cost to dump”, are relatively low compared to other parts of the United States as a result of the abundance of landfill areas.

Many consumers, businesses and contractors think nothing of throwing things “away and out of sight.” However, it is not environmentally responsible to dispose of items that could be salvaged, recycled or reused. It is also irresponsible to think of our landfill space as unlimited. One day there will not be an “away” for our waste disposal.

This web-based toolkit is designed to inform, educate and provide a resource of information on construction and demolition waste for contractors, haulers, developers, architects, engineers, consultants, nonprofit organization and private citizens.

Nationwide, it is estimated that as much as 40% of the raw materials consumed in the United States – steel, concrete, glass and wood – are used in construction. When new buildings are constructed or during renovation, all of these materials become waste. This Construction & Demolition (C&D) waste stream is enormous: about 130 million tons per year, or about 25% of all of the solid waste that is discarded in the United States.*

The Construction & Demolition Waste & Education Research Project was designed to explore current strategies for handling construction & demolition materials and explore the development of a business case for diverting recyclable and reusable items from our region’s landfills.The project was conceived by ReSource St. Louis, U.S. Green Building Council’s Missouri Gateway Chapter, and Missouri Enterprise and funded by a grant from the St. Louis-Jefferson Solid Waste Management District.Consulting team Butterfly Energy Works & EcoUrban conducted focus groups, created an education curriculum and developed this web toolkit – a compilation of research on local C&D resources, best practices and landfills and focus group content.*

(Source: RECYCLING CONSTRUCTION AND DEMOLITION WASTES, The Institution Recycling Network)

VIDEO: Randy Toureville of Republic Services discusses the importance of C & D Waste Diversion.

The scope of work of the project included the following:

- Capture current regional C&D waste management collection, transportation, processing and recycling resources and capabilities

- Contribute to a business-case for reducing and recycling C&D waste

- Provide local and national best practices and resources for reducing and recycling C&D waste

- Provide sample specification for reducing and recycling C&D waste

- Develop guidelines on achieving LEED C&D credits for the national LEED Green Building Rating System

Credits & Thanks

We would like to thank the following companies and individuals who participated in our focus groups. Your experience and willingness to participate added greatly to this project.

Focus Group Participants:

Randy Tourville, Republic Waste Services

Craig Bucheit, Paul Todd Merrill & Nick Bristow, Clayco

Bill Seffens, EcoRecycling

Chris Cahnovsky, Illinois EPA

Ruben Guzman & Jen Kissinger, Paric

Chris Kalter, St. Louis County

Tommy & Shelli, Regency Waste

Brad Roell, Blue Brick Construction

Eric Schwarz, Habitat for Humanity Saint Louis

Dale Behnen, Peerless Waste / Throw N’ Go

Christy Cunningham Saylor, Vertegy

Jim Trout, Department of Natural Resources / Energize MO Homes

Cindy Breth, Operation Foodsearch Metals For Food Program

Jason Walters, Stylecraft Homes

Patti Maher, Tiger Lily Development

Special thanks to Matt Stravalli for video support and USGBC Missouri Gateway Chapter for use of their conference room.

construction & demolition materials toolkit

A Regional Construction & Demolition Materials Toolkit

Credits & Thanks

Focus Group Participants: