Chicago Hope

Michael Taylor, now executive director of the National Association of Demolition Contractors (NADC), Doylestown, Pa., can recall the sales call clearly even though two decades have passed since it occurred.

The Chicago city official was not interested in making or buying pavement made from recycled concrete. “This is the city that works,” the official proclaimed, and he was not about to put himself on the line by advocating the use of “substandard” materials made from demolished roads or buildings.

Times do change, and proof of that can be found in that same Windy City 20 years later. States, municipalities and trade associations looking for a “how-to” guide on putting together a Construction and Demolition Recycling Guidebook might do well to look toward Chicago.

A DIRECTORY WITH PLENTY OF ENTRIES

As noted in the October 1997 Recycling Today, Chicago is among the major markets with a growing C&D debris recycling infrastructure.

That progress was not achieved without occasional setbacks, including the findings uncovered earlier this decade by “Operation Silver Shovel,” when phony C&D debris recyclers were exposed for dumping much of the material they were accepting under the premise that it would be recycled.

Largely as a result of that investigation, Chicago began more carefully monitoring its debris recyclers while also making efforts to ensure that there are markets for honest operators. Several of the city’s departments now work together to make sure that a high percentage of debris made from concrete and other stone-based materials is recycled, usually on site.

In 1997, the Illinois Department of Commerce worked with several other organizations—the Home Builders Association of Greater Chicago, the Builders Association of Greater Chicago, the American Subcontractors Association Chicago Chapter, and the American Institute of Architects/Chicago Chapter—to produce two printed pieces that demonstrate the extent of C&D debris recycling in northern Illinois.

l The Illinois Construction and Demolition Site Recycling Guidebook offers more than 20 pages of “how to” information for those wishing to become more involved in C&D recycling. The book also offers case studies outlining how contractors can save money by recycling certain materials as opposed to hauling them to the landfill. Other basic information offered includes a statistical breakdown, by material, of debris generated at residential and commercial construction and demolition sites.

l The 1997 Chicagoland Construction and Demolition Site Recycling Directory is a 24-page reference directory that can help contractors find markets for their debris. More than 30 of the 90 companies and organizations listed in the directory are scrap metal processors. As most contractors are quick to point out, they—or street peddlers who will pounce on anything they leave behind—have for a long time recognized the wisdom of making sure metal debris is sold for scrap.

Perhaps more impressive are the listings found in other C&D debris categories. The Chicago area offers two drop-off points for mixed C&D debris, and six that specialize in wood recycling (two of these, however, do not accept demolition-produced wood). 15 places are listed where building contractors can take the sizable amount of cardboard they accumulate on the job site—and more than half of these will collect the material on site. Two companies listed accept excess carpet padding, and five more companies are listed that provide on-site auctions or similar services that provide contractors with an option besides mass land-filling.

Finally, there is an impressive showing by companies that accept concrete, asphalt and similar materials. Just under 30 companies are listed, providing contractors with numerous options in the disposal of asphalt, concrete and brick in particular. While many companies offer only a drop-off option, a few do offer collection services.

In Chicago and throughout the country, contractors unhappy with the recycling options available to them have also begun to take matters into their own hands. Rapid additions to the equipment market have helped make this a possibility for an increasing number of construction and demolition contractors.

EQUIPMENT MARKET

SPURS PROGRESS

It has to be easy. That’s what contractors and C&D recycling advocates will say repeatedly about C&D recycling methodology. If C&D debris recycling is to grow as an option for contractors, they can’t be expected to jump through hoops in order to recycle.

Believers in the free market system will be happy to know that the profit motive has driven many equipment makers to design easier ways to process C&D debris.

NADC’s Michael Taylor believes the change in the equipment market is one of the primary reasons for the significant growth in concrete recycling. “People seem to be buying that equipment,” he notes. “They wouldn’t buy it unless it made financial sense,” he adds.

As far as most contractors seem to be concerned, new equipment specifically designed for on-site use in C&D applications marks a real improvement. “Years ago, people would bring in quarrying technology. Now, several companies are developing products specifically designed to handle the diverse nature of C&D waste,” says Taylor.

Machinery now being used can not only process C&D waste in a manner that would make it easier to ship, it can also begin to prepare it for re-use on the same job site.

The Universal Engineering Division of Svedala Industries, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, was recently part of a joint venture that put together a “train” system to process concrete C&D debris on-site. The four-unit system feeds, crushes and screens used concrete and then loads trucks with a usable fill material. This is all accomplished while the system is mounted on two moving trucks, so the “train” is never far from where it is needed most—either where pavement is being torn up or where the fill material is being placed.

Portability has become a key selling point in the sales literature of many manufacturers in the C&D debris recycling segment.

Such recycling methods are proving not only efficient and profitable, but can be a source of positive public relations efforts.

The British Consulate-General in Chicago recently trumpeted the construction in England of “the world’s most environment-friendly” office and conference building. A news release prepared by the consulate summarizes the eco-friendly techniques used during the construction of the building, including a description of C&D debris re-use and recycling:

“The [building] used recycled aggregate concrete from the building is replaced along with 80,000 reclaimed bricks and parquet flooring from other buildings that had been demolished in the area. Slate cladding, roofing sheets and timbers, cast iron rainwater goods as well as timber, glass, plastic and metal work were also reclaimed and recycled in a variety of ways. In fact, 96 percent of the waste generated from the demolition of the old building was reused or recycled.”

Contractors on this side of the Atlantic who have chosen to make it a priority have also achieved diversion rates in the 90 percent range. Contractors involved with the construction of the Rose Garden basketball arena in Portland, Oregon claimed a 92 percent diversion rate. It was a standard that contractors involved with expanding the Nike headquarters complex in Beaverton, Oregon publicly stated they were aiming to match or exceed.

Dykes Paving, a Norcross, Georgia contractor, and Telsmith, an equipment maker based in Mequon, Wisc., touted their roles in the demolition of Atlanta’s Fulton County Stadium. A Telsmith machine enabled Dykes Paving to crush and reuse as backfill several tons of concrete that were formerly part of the stadium.

Public relations goals aside, contractors who wish to recycle for reasons of profitability or because of their own belief in the practice of recycling now have a greatly expanded range of equipment that can help them in their efforts. The newest edition of the Recycling Today Equipment & Services Buyers’ Guide lists 55 companies that consider themselves in the C&D debris processing equipment sector. There are 62 listings under the wood shredders category, and nine companies that offer concrete/asphalt crushing systems.

END MARKETS STILL THE LINCHPIN

It has become easier and more acceptable. But—as with all other recycling sectors—a profitable light at the end of the tunnel in the form of end markets for re-processed materials is the most important factor in C&D debris recycling’s viability.

“Both the volume and percentage of demolition materials being recycled is growing,” asserts Taylor. “The reason, I believe, is that the industry is very interested in promoting the recycling of the industry’s waste stream. We’ve been working with this from every angle, and the growth is perceptible.”

While the NADC was not directly involved in the making of the two Illinois reference manuals, all Illinois and Chicago area NADC members received copies of the publications.

Taylor listed several prominent NADC members who have purchased equipment or even existing recycling businesses as examples of the seriousness with which the industry now takes debris recycling.

However, “There must be markets for the commodities,” Taylor states.

Even though concrete recycling has met with some success in formerly tough markets such as Chicago, the important end market factor in the equation could still use some bolstering. “Most of it (recycled concrete) is being used as fill material or in places like parking lots and secondary access roads,” notes Taylor. “Currently, much of if often does not meet DOT standards.”

Recycled wood can be even tougher to move, and there is virtually no market for it in some areas. California, says Taylor, is a state that does offer end markets for C&D debris wood, at places such as wood-burning power plants, a Mexican consumer that reprocesses old wood, and at particle board manufacturing plants.

Drywall is often considered the toughest material to find a home, although building materials manufacturers are beginning to address the problem. Georgia-Pacific, Atlanta, recently announced its intention to build a $65 million facility in Indiana that will manufacture gypsum wallboard from used materials.

“Everybody wants to do it,” Taylor says of C&D debris recycling, “if you can market the materials.” He remarks that federal or state governments can help further boost C&D recycling rates by passing laws similar to the executive order mandating recycled paper usage. Laws in the C&D segment might target the use of aggregates or paving materials with a certain percentage of recycled content.

To what extent government influence can or should be used in regard to C&D debris recycling is a source of debate. What cannot be debated is the drastic change that has taken place in the last two decades.

If Chicago—once a city that operated five waste incinerators and that looked with suspicion upon the use of recycled materials—can publish an industry-standard recycling guidebook, than clearly anything can happen.

The author is managing editor of Recycling Today.