Recycling Waste from Construction/Demolition Sites

[missmanors]

With our nation's landfills overflowing with waste, it's important that we begin to take action wherever possible to alleviate some of those heaps of trash that we've been piling there for years and years.

When it comes to the demolition of a building, or the construction of one, there is a lot of waste that can just be added to the landfills, or much of it could be used in other ways, helping our environment, instead of adding to it's downfall.

I recently read an article about the county of Ventura in California, which is trying to help contractors and homeowners save money and recycle materials that would ordinarily be dumped at a landfill.

Ventura has put an ordinance on the books that requires that 60% of all construction waste be diverted, which means that only 40% of this waste can be taken to a landfill. Since this ordinance has been in effect, the landfills have actually only seen 11% of this waste!! This means that the homeowners and contractors are actually taking 29% more to be diverted (recycled or salvaged) into other uses than they are taking to the landfills.

The California Integrated Waste Management Board's 50% waste diversion requirement mandates that every city and county in California must divert at least half of all of its waste from landfills. This mandate has most of California's population more aware of recycling and reusing materials.

The diversion of construction and demolition waste in California has helped tremendously in the effort to divert 50% of the state's waste from landfills.
Commonly recycled waste materials include, brick, asphalt, wooden roof shingles, concrete, dirt, sand, cardboard, rock, drywall, doors, windows, toilets, sinks, metal, plastics and wood.

Ventura county's definition of "recyclable" is any material which can be taken to a manufacturer to be made into a new product...i.e. plastic bottles into plastic fence, etc.

The county's definition for "reuse" is materials being utilized in there original state that stays on the project site.

"Salvage" is the just like "reuse", but the material is removed to another site for recycling or reuse at a later time.