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Construction Debris Diverted From Landfills in Milwaukee

WasteCap Wisconsin, based in Milwaukee, identified wood and cardboard as the two materials that would be targeted in the demonstration project because they would be generated in large quantities, were easy to separate and had existing recycling markets, Drew Stuyvenberg told the Green Building Conference in Baltimore on April 1.

Wood recycling containers were placed on the building sites during rough framing, which occurred during roughly the first six weeks of construction, and cardboard recycling took over during the final six weeks when the finishing stage generated boxes from cabinets and fixtures.

Builders participating in the project reported a fairly easy job of educating subcontractors about separating the two recycled materials from other construction trash, but cardboard was somewhat of a challenge because more subcontractors and materials were involved.

Stuyvenberg tallied these results from the conservation effort:

• Wood and cardboard constitute an average of 50% of the residential construction waste stream in Wisconsin. The builders were able to recycle 46% of their total construction debris.
• Builders recycled 49.5 tons, or 330 cubic yards, of wood.
• Builders recycled 2.9 tons, or 97.5 cubic yards of cardboard.
• Recycling the total 52.4 tons of wood and cardboard was 43% less expensive than sending those materials to the landfill.

About 30% of Wisconsin’s non-municipal waste stream comes from construction and demolition debris, said Stuyvenberg.

He said that the Environmental Protection Agency estimates that 136 million tons of this debris are generated across the country each year.

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