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Recycling Construction Waste Becoming Second Nature in Colorado

Donna Merten, who works for the James Company, a division of Tousa Homes, told NAHB’s National Green Building Conference in Austin earlier this month that since she established her company’s first recycling program in 2000, it has recycled more than 1,000 tons of construction debris and saved 25% on tipping fees.

Now company policy on all work sites, the program is successful in diverting about 65% of construction waste from the landfill.

Initially, Merten said, construction superintendent’s thought recycling would take up too much time for laborers and that subcontractors wouldn’t buy into it. Local recycling companies were also reluctant to get involved in Merten’s program because their recycling bins had been contaminated by builders in the past, they lost money trying to sort through construction trash and they had never seen a builder succeed in the effort.

Without any corporate funds, Merten set up her recycling prototype on a six-plex multifamily project involving about 20 buildings being completed at a rate of one or two per month. Bins were built out of OSB on site, with waste broken down into wood, cardboard and metal. Signs were provided in English and Spanish and supers and subs were instructed that everyone needed to follow the recycling regimen the same as any other rules on the construction site.

Virtually the same project was being built across the street, so Merten was able to document the actual cost savings. When cardboard was broken down, it soon became apparent that “a lot of the volume in the dumpsters was air,” she said. It was also found that when wood scraps were stacked, they took up considerably more volume than when they were crisscrossed.

In addition to saving money, corporate executives were excited that through the recycling process they were able to discover that large pieces of useable material were being tossed into the dumpster. As for neatness, work sites now are virtually spotless.

Since her program moved into full gear, more than 20 local builders have started recycling, Merten said, and the city of Boulder has made it mandatory.

“The majority of subs were amazed that something was finally being done about the waste,” Merten said.

Wood waste from construction sites now goes into windrows of organic compost to eventually become soil amendments and landscaping mulch. Truss cut-offs can be turned into perfectly engineered finger jointed studs, and cardboard can be made back into cardboard, she said.

Merten said that drywall is still a problem, but in some other parts of the country it is ground up with the wood for soil applications or can be ground up on site for erosion control.

A representative from Bielinski Homes in Wisconsin said that her company uses on-site recycling to grind up brick and asphalt shingles for underneath the driveway.

Home owners turn out to be the biggest violators when it comes to contaminating the waste bins, which they find a convenient place to dispose of old couches and an amazing assortment of discarded material, Merten said, so a “please help us recycle” letter now accompanies closing contracts.

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