The focus on recycling and reusing has changed the course of waste management in the last twenty years; however, most of the attention has been placed on what you and I can do in the course of our daily lives to curb landfill usage.
Discover Magazine identifies these strides in an article where it was suggested that by last official measure in 2005, that Americans recycled an estimated 32 percent their total waste, which averages nearly a ton per person per year.
These recycling efforts save the greenhouse gas equivalent to removing 39.
6 million cars from the road.
With these fantastic results it is amazing that we have turned a blind eye toward the construction industry- particularly home construction.
Waste generated by construction and demolition accounts for a third of what enters landfills.
So when your homebuilder builds you that lovely 3000 square foot house, it will take a little over two years of being a diligent recycler to equal the waste deposited in the landfill by that single home construction.
Construction waste disposal methods lag behind every other industry's efforts toward recycling and reusing and the media never seems to mention it, and state laws do not reflect a need to regulate this industry.
The changes necessary to implement intelligent waste management in the construction industry are so incredibly simple, but still the methods are rarely modified.
Perhaps the biggest problem is that homebuilders either aren't concerned about environmental issues or they are ignorant to how easy it is to implement a waste recycling program that would actually save them money.
There are two ways to implement these simple changes: 1.
Construction managers could hire a landscaper with a grinder to grind down nearly two thirds of the construction debris on site.
The drywall is gypsum and good for the soil.
The minced wood can be used for erosion control.
Concrete, shingles etc can be ground down and left on site.
The cardboard from appliance boxes can be taken away by a junk pick up service and recycled.
What you have left is minimal and also can be taken away by a junk pick up service.
2.
The second approach just involves using two dumpsters, one for wood only which is hauled away after the framing while the second is used for articles that cannot easily be recycled.
However the cardboard can still be removed by a junk hauler and the junk pick up service will be glad to take away aluminum siding and copper wire scrap because they know it will buy them lunch.
Most drywall companies have someone that will take their drywall to use in farm fields and such.
It is going to take the construction manager on these sites to enforce environmentally friendly waste disposal standards if the subcontractors are ever going to make a change.
Sadly this doesn't happen because there is no catalyst issued by state laws to garner a change.
Some changes are at play in this industry brought on by the private sector working in conjunction with non profits.
Wisconsin has been making great strides with membership growing in a non profit company called Wastecap, which educates construction companies and their subcontractors on these recycling methods and sets up programs that work.
Most effective has been the results in the commercial sector and can be seen with Wastecap's published results.
Hopefully the homebuilders will follow their lead and develop an intelligent waste management program for residential construction in this area as well.
It is time the country took a look at what is going on in Wisconsin and implemented these changes elsewhere.