C&D News

NADC Report Stellar Attendance,  Opportunities

The National Association of Demolition Contractors’ 24th annual convention, held March 9 though 12 in Las Vegas, enjoyed a record 1,450 attendees. During the meeting, Mike Tredick, president of Viking Equipment Corp., Glendale, Calif., was elected president of the NADC, replacing Donald Fenning, president of Cleveland Wrecking Co., Los Angeles. Next year, the association’s convention will be held in Tarpon Springs, Fla., March 29 through April 1.

The focus of this year’s convention was opportunities in the demolition industry. In particular, Jim Hanson, the brownfields coordinator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region IX, spoke about EPA’s Brownfields Initiative. The focus of this initiative is to make abandoned industrial sites in cities available for development. Since the program was announced in 1995, 50 pilot programs have been developed, and a large number of brownfield sites have been removed from the Superfund list.

"There will be many more such projects over the next five years, and many will need the services of the demolition industry," said Hanson.

Wood Waste Workshop Held

The Clean Washington Center, Seattle, contracted with International Resources Unlimited, Eugene, Ore., to create a Wood Waste Best Practices Manual and conduct four workshops in April based on these practices. Workshops were held in Seattle; Baltimore; Charlotte, N.C.; and Elmhurst, Ill. Gershman, Brickner & Bratton Inc., Falls Church, Va., and Green Solutions, South Prairie, Wash., assisted in the project.

The manual, which was distributed to all workshop attendees, provides data on how to maximize the cost and performance benefits of using wood debris in manufacturing and production processes. Best practices are proven methods and techniques that enable the effective use of wood debris. The manual includes best practices for sourcing, processing and manufacturing with wood debris, as well as direct end use applications of processed wood debris.

The wood materials covered include sorted clean demolition debris, commingled wood debris, chemically treated wood, landclearing stumps and wood, wood branch prunings, pallets and crates, secondary manufacturing residuals, sorted new construction timber trim, and sorted engineered panelboards.

Asphalt Recyclers Elect New President

During their recent annual meeting in San Antonio, Texas, members of the Asphalt Recycling & Reclaiming Association, Annapolis, Md., elected Chuck Valentine to the office of association president for the 1997 term. Valentine is the president of Valentine Surfacing Inc., Vancouver, Wash., a pioneer and recognized leader in cold recycling technology. He has been involved in cold in-place asphalt recycling, cold planing, solid stabilization and full depth reclamation for several years.

A staunch supporter of ARRA and the asphalt recycling and reclaiming industry, Valentine is a member and former chairman of the ARRA Cold Recycling Technology Technical Committee and has held the offices of vice president and secretary/treasurer of the association. In addition to serving as program chairman for the ARRA annual meeting, Valentine has been instrumental in planning and conducting ARRA seminars.

In addition, Jim Halverson of J.A. Construction, Ontario, Calif., was elected 1997 ARRA vice president; and Jay Wolfe of Koss Construction Inc., West Des Moines, Iowa, was elected secretary/treasurer.

Environmental Building News, Brattleboro, Vt., a monthly newsletter addressing how to reduce the impact of buildings on the environment, is calling for a phase-out of the most common preservative treatment for wood: chromated copper arsenate or CCA. Due to disposal concerns, the publication recommends CCA be replaced by less toxic alternatives or that the cost of safe disposal of treated wood be included in the purchase price.

More than 5 billion board feet of CCA-treated lumber is produced each year in the U.S., representing roughly 17 percent of all softwood lumber and more than 40 percent of lumber products from the Southeast, with production expected to grow. Quantities of this material are expected to enter the waste stream soon.

Conexpo-Con/AGG '99 Gets New Sponsor

The largest exhibition for the construction, aggregates and ready mixed concrete industries which is held every three years, CONEXPO-CON/AGG, has added a new sponsor for its 1999 show in Las Vegas. Associated General Contractors will join the Construction Industry Manufacturers Association, National Aggregates Association, National Ready Mix Concrete Association and the National Stone Association as sponsors of the CONEXPO-CON/AGG ’99. It is expected that AGC will add another 6,000 attendees.

In 1996, the convention featured 1,281 exhibitors occupying more than 1.2 million square-feet of space and attracting more than 95,000 visitors.

Caterpillar Purchases Vibra-Ram Wack GMBH

Caterpillar Inc., Peoria, Ill., has purchased Vibra-Ram Wack GmbH, a maker of demolition and scrap processing equipment located in Zwiebrucken, Germany. Vibra-Ram Wack, which is ISO 9001-certified, designs and manufactures shears, concrete pulverizers and crushers.

"This acquisition will fill a void our dealers have experienced in the availability of quality attachments for the demolition and scrap markets worldwide," says Dave Duffy, product manager for Caterpillar.