C&D News

The Construction Materials Recycling Association (CMRA), through its Issues and Education Fund, has partnered with the University of New Hampshire (UNH) to address a proposed ban on burning construction and demolition material in New Hampshire.

UNH will begin conducting research on the life cycle costs and benefits of burning C&D material for energy recovery on behalf of the CMRA, according to William Turley, the association’s executive director.

The association is responding to the introduction of New Hampshire’s House Bill 428, which would permanently ban the burning of wood derived from the C&D material stream as fuel as of Jan. 1, 2008, effectively replacing a current moratorium that expires Dec. 31, 2007.

Turley says the ban could slam the door shut on an important market for recycled C&D debris in New England. "We might see these ideas that C&D wood is in some way unsafe spread to other states, and we don’t want this untrue concept to take hold," he says.

Through its partnership with UNH, the CMRA hopes to provide data to New Hampshire lawmakers that proves the material can be used as wood fuel with comparable environmental impacts to other fuel products. The research will take place in several phases, according to Dr. Jenna Jambeck, research assistant professor, the Environmental Research Group of the Department of Civil/Environmental Engineering at the University of New Hampshire.

According to Jambeck, UNH will first conduct a review of published articles and reports that address the combustion of C&D wood with energy recovery. Then, UNH will conduct a life cycle analysis (LCA) of various management options for C&D wood using the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Municipal Solid Waste Decision Support Tool (MSW DST). The MSW DST contains life cycle environmental data for transporting, combusting with energy recovery and landfilling C&D wood debris. Jambeck says, "An LCA provides a holistic method of analysis that illustrates environmental benefits and trade-offs. Information from the LCA can be used alone or in further structured decision making."

She says scientific evidence suggests the combustion of C&D wood can be conducted with currently available air pollution technologies that complies with state and federal emissions regulations.

Keeping the avenue to burning C&D wood open is not only important to New England’s C&D recycling industry, but to the country as a whole as it tries to find alternative ways to meet energy demands, says Turley. "These plants are the future—a way to wean ourselves from dependence on coal and foreign oil," he says. "Emissions from these stacks can be much cleaner than coal. We are looking for a way to get our message out there, and we’re hoping that the science will carry the day."

More information on the CMRA is available at the association’s online home www.cdrecycling.org. More information about HB 428 is available at www.nh.gov.

U.K.-based Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) has launched a new online tool intended to help the construction industry increase recycled content in construction work.

The searchable Recycled Product Guide documents more than 150 products across 35 common product categories that are available with higher levels of recycled content for use in construction, regeneration and refurbishment projects.

This new tool presents up-to-date product descriptions and supplier details. As well as listing product suppliers, each entry includes details on the product’s percentage of recycled content, its life expectancy and additional information such as the recycled materials used. The database can be accessed through http://rcproducts.wrap.org.uk/.