What a Concept

Green home building is fast becoming mainstream practice across all building types, styles and price points. That evolution of the housing industry was on display at the 2011 International Builders Show in Orlando, Fla., held in October 2011, where two distinctly different homes showcased the highest standards of energy and resource efficiency. But one aspect of both homes that was overshadowed in their respective presentations is the important role of construction waste management.

Valued by green building programs, the proper planning, purchasing and application of building materials—and what’s done with the resulting waste—is critical to a comprehensive approach to sustainable construction. Waste Management Inc. (WM), Houston, helped achieve high levels of diversion of construction materials for these two show homes.

The Builder Concept Home 2011 is a net-zero energy, LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Platinum suburban house in Windermere, Fla. Behind its beautiful finishes and convenient, functional spaces is a commitment by builder KB Home to reduce and recycle a high percentage of its construction waste and divert it away from landfills.

The Builder Concept Home 2011 is a LEED Platinum suburban house in Windermere, Fla. It is a net-zero energy home, meaning it is intended to produce more energy than it consumes over the span of a year.

“That’s actually a big deal if you are getting into the environmentally friendly, sustainable piece [of construction],” says George Glance, president, KB Home Central Florida Division. He admits it is not always easy to recycle construction debris because builders need to find outlets for all the materials they would otherwise landfill. This includes materials like drywall, concrete and wood. But nonetheless, KB Homes was able to divert nearly 90 percent of the waste it generated on the project from the landfill.

Jim Halter, vice president of construction solutions, WM, says the work that WM did on the project was not unlike many projects it has undertaken with custom builders. “The unique thing was that it did have some very specific things that they needed as far as it had space restrictions and also the desire to have a very high percentage of recyclables,” explains Halter, “So it was really interesting working, sitting down with them and understanding the concept of the project and integrating our solutions into that.”

The results of that collaboration were impressive. Working together, KB Home and WM diverted nearly 90 percent of construction waste — from concrete to drywall to wood and other materials — away from local landfills and into various recycling markets.

“The results at KB that we had for waste diversion for construction debris was 89 percent, which was quite outstanding,” says Halter. He attributes the high recycling rate to KB Homes and the way it managed the project and the way it was able to communicate with WM on what its needs were.

“We were very fortunate that we have a facility here that we were able to take the materials into. We were able to segregate those materials,” Halter adds. “I think the great thing for KB Homes is that they were able to commingle.”

By commingle, Halter means KB Homes put all of its construction debris into a single container. WM could then take it to an offsite location, source separate it and ensure that it would get to the appropriate place to be diverted and recycled.
 

Another Example
Also built in conjunction with the 2011 Builders Show, The New American Home is touted as a model of resource efficiency—including a commitment to C&D waste management that dates back to before construction began. In fact, two older homes that used to occupy the home’s half-acre lot were sustainably deconstructed to clear the parcel.

Working with a deconstruction specialist to carefully remove products and materials that could be salvaged and/or recycled, WM helped divert 400 tons of material, or about 70 percent of the two homes, away from local landfills.

Then, once construction began, WM worked with the builder, Continental Homes and Interiors, to continue the commitment. The project achieved an 83 percent diversion of the construction debris collected at the site.

The drywall scrap from both projects was recycled for use in a mushroom farm for agricultural soil amendment.

“It’s stories like that [which] we really get excited about,” Halter says of being able to find a home for the drywall.
 

A Common Goal
As impressive as those numbers are for both show home projects, non-recyclers often ask: Where do all those resources go if not to the landfill?

“We are able to take each individual component of the C&D debris and separate it out. In some places we do a manual separation. In others, we have technology that separates,” Halter explains in the WM video clip.

WM says it has learned that, whether it be achieving a green building certification, staying on-time and on-budget, or trying to gain a competitive advantage in today’s tough housing market, builders like KB Home and Continental value a partner that understands their business.

“I think you have to look at your total building systems and your take offs and make sure you have value engineering designed into your home so you can make room for what is important to consumers,” Glance says.

Halter says one of the biggest misconceptions contractors and builders have about sustainable waste management and trying to achieve diversion goals are questions as to how it will impact their productivity (in a negative fashion) and notions as to how it will affect costs and schedules.

“That is why we think it is very important to get us involved early on in the planning process so we can help minimize any impacts to schedule,” Halter says.

Halter adds WM tries to have a commingled process whenever possible because it is easier for the contractors to be able to tell workers to throw everything into one container and “WM will take care of it for you.”

That understanding comes from an internal commitment to sustainability at WM that the company says pervades the entire operation.

Halter says WM’s business and mission is in protecting the environment, which includes the communities the company serves as well as its employees. He also says that mission is why the company has an aggressive sustainability campaign. “It is ingrained as part of the fabric of our company,” Halter explains.

More information about residential building solutions from WM is available at www.wm.com, where visitors can search for local services by ZIP code.

Further details about the The Builder Concept Home 2011, including the ability to take a comprehensive and photo-realistic virtual tour, is available at www.builderconcepthome2011.com. 
 

The article was adapted from a video produced by Houston-based Waste Management Inc.

To watch the video this article was adapted from, visit CDRecycler.com/wm-construction-solutions-case-study-video.aspx.