Masonry Magazine December 1999 Page. 45
Construction Waste Recycling
Continued from page 24
that recycles asphalt exclusively, and it is estimated that more than 150 million tons are recycled.
Concrete Recycled both from the foundations of homes and from highway and airport repair work. The finished products are used largely as a base material for road products, over which either a concrete or asphalt finish is placed. The CMRA estimates that more than 100 million tons of concrete are recycled annually.
Wood-C&D wood is made up largely of building demolition and waste from new construction. Recycling C&D wood presents many challenges because of contamination from paint, creosote, caulking and similar materials. Removal of these contaminants is very difficult and limits the uses of the final product. Main products produced are boiler fuel and mulch, although some more advanced recyclers have discovered value-added uses such as pressed lumber and door panels on automobiles. Also, usually these recyclers are dealing with commingled debris, from demolition and construction sites, which makes sorting the material a major challenge.
Gypsum- A problematic material that is recovered from wallboard at demolition projects, leftovers from construction and rejects from wallboard factories. Some parts of Canada have already banned this material from landfills altogether.
Asphalt shingles- Although the finished product usually is placed back into the hot mix for road work, the best method to process shingles is with a specialized plant designed for it. It's a difficult material to handle and only a handful of plants in North America exist. But shingles will become a major problem as some areas are limiting or banning them from landfills because they can be classified as hazardous waste.
Of course, metals are recovered from demolition jobs and recycled, but that market has been well-established for years. However, in the past year prices paid for scrap metal have dropped considerably.
C&D Debris Recycling Benefits
The benefits of construction materials recycling are many. It:
Provides materials that are often just as good as virgin construction materials, and sometimes better.
Saves on virgin materials, such as aggregate from crushed stone and sand and gravel mines and trees from forests, including old growth timber.
Saves landfill space and help keep disposal costs down because less material is competing to get into the landfill.
Reduces pollution by reducing traffic, especially truck traffic, between far away landfills and virgin material resources. In fact, sometimes the processing machine is trucked on site and material processed there, saving many truckloads.
Provides additional jobs.
Current status
The C&D debris recycling market is a growing, vibrant, but relatively young industry that will continue to expand because of the continuing problems of decreased landfill space.
Continued on next pa
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NOVEMBER/DECEMBER, 1999 45