Residential Construction Waste Management Demonstration and ...

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Presentation: NCHI Spring meeting. The National Council of the Housing Industry is the manufacturers’ division of the National Association of Home Builders. It has a membership of over 75 major manufacturers and several major trade publications. The Research Center is making efforts to present the results of this project, including strategies for packaging waste reduction and the development of recycled-content building materials, at the next NCHI meeting. Entry: Awards Program for Architectural Research, Progressive Architecture Magazine. A paper summarizing year activities is being submitted to the Awards Program of Progressive Architecture. The program advocates and disseminates research that supports the design and construction of inspiring buildings and sustainable communities. Judging will take place in April 1995, with winning entries published in the July 1995 edition of Progressive Architecture, a publication with 56,000 subscribers worldwide.
CONCLUSIONS The construction waste assessments conducted by the Research Center were consistent with quantities and characterization from earlier studies. The construction of a typical 2,000 square foot home generates approximately 4 tons of waste. Wood, drywall, and cardboard consistently account for 60 to 80 percent of this total. Depending on methods of construction and choice of materials, rigid foam insulation, vinyl siding, and brick waste can make significant contributions to the total weight or volume of construction waste. Workshops conducted by the Research Center for builders exploring waste reduction opportunities focused on potential efficiency gains in the selection, layout, and installation of major building components (primarily wood and drywall) and restructuring of job contracts to more closely link the financial responsibility of supplier, installer, and disposer of construction materials. Many builders participating in the workshops had already switched to more resource-efficient engineered wood products but were reluctant to consider changes in layout and installation practices. The most common reasons offered for this reluctance were poor quality of materials that prevent optimization of layout, a fear that competitors would link reduced material use to reduced quality, and a perception that employing individual techniques in material optimization would not result in significant waste reduction. Builders generally agreed that structuring contracts to more closely link responsibility for the purchase, installation, and disposal of construction materials could have a significant impact on waste reduction. Workshops conducted by the Research Center exploring waste reuse and recycling opportunities focused on the recovery of specific materials and different methods of managing construction waste. The low value of wood and drywall waste dictates that the costs of separating, transporting, and processing the materials be minimal. On-site reuse of wood and drywall waste may be the most promising management method in many areas of the country where the low cost of gypsum ore and virgin sources of wood fiber make it difficult for recycled wood and drywall to compete. Higher value corrugated cardboard and siding waste (vinyl and aluminum) are more likely to be recycled if markets and channels of distribution exist or can be developed. In areas where recycling markets exist or can be developed, there was interest in both commingled recovery and passive time separation of materials. Real progress was made at each of the sessions on developing reuse and recycling opportunities, clearly demonstrating the value of bringing builders, waste management and processing firms, product manufacturers, and solid waste officials together in a single forum. The expertise and perspective of each contingent is required to identify existing or begin the development of alternatives to construction waste disposal. Recommendations for reducing packaging waste were well received by the manufacturing community, with several manufacturers indicating current employment or future consideration of suggested strategies. Packaging waste reduction appears to be driven more by the purchasing cost packaging represents to the manufacturer than the disposal problem it represents to the consumer. Builder interest in purchasing and manufacturer interest in producing recycled-content building materials is driven by the following concerns - cost; access to information on content, quality, and durability of products (for builders) and inputs (for manufacturers); and availability of
Page 1: RESIDENTIAL CONSTRUCTION WASTE MANA
Page 4 and 5: Acknowledgments This report was pre
Page 6 and 7: APPENDIX B-WASTE ASSESSMENT METHODO
Page 9 and 10: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This document sum
Page 11: acceptability of waste gypsum wallb
Page 15 and 16: BACKGROUND PAPER The Research Cente
Page 17: stated goal that can be absorbed by
Page 20 and 21: Level of cooperation among governme
Page 22 and 23: Prince George’s County Maryland P
Page 24 and 25: associated with landfill closures a
Page 26 and 27: Corrugated cardboard. The market va
Page 29 and 30: CHARACTERIZATION OF CONSTRUCTION WA
Page 31: Table 2. Construction Waste: Total
Page 34 and 35: Many manufacturers remain uncertain
Page 36 and 37: Establish a "take-back" policy. "Ta
Page 39: DISSEMINATION ACTIVITIES Several ef
Page 43 and 44: PROPOSED TASK 2 ACTIVITIES In the s
Page 45: APPENDIX A--WORKSHOP SUMMARY
Page 48 and 49: production, and as bedding material
Page 51: APPENDIX B--WASTE ASSESSMENT METHOD
Page 54 and 55: Conducting the waste assessment. Co
Page 57: APPENDIX C--WASTE ASSESSMENTS
Page 67: APPENDIX D--PACKAGING WASTE REDUCTI
Page 70 and 71: Recycling Reminder - Prominently la
Page 73 and 74: RESULTS TO INFORMAL QUESTIONNAIRE:
Page 75 and 76: window manufacturer stated that the
Page 77 and 78: industries, recycled content is an
Page 81: APPENDIX F--" CONSTRUCTION WASTE: F
Page 84 and 85: Response Compensation, and Liabilit
Page 86 and 87: sponsoring such research for repres
Page 89 and 90: NEWS FOR NATIONAL REPS from the NAH
Page 91 and 92:
Workshops The Research Center condu
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