A shift in perception

Kristin Smith

When the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released data on solid waste generation and disposal in June 2015 as it has done every year for the last 30 years, something stood out. The data, which was for the year 2013, had a new name, “Advancing Sustainable Materials Management: 2013 Fact Sheet.” No longer was the report referred to as “Municipal Solid Waste Generation, Recycling, and Disposal in the United States: Facts and Figures.”

The EPA says the new name emphasizes the importance of sustainable materials management (SMM) and reflects continuing efforts to “expand, improve and enhance the report with new information on historical landfill tipping fees for municipal solid waste (MSW) and construction and demolition (C&D) debris generation.”

The positioning by the EPA is a shift that reflects how industry and government are viewing waste. It is truly being viewed as a resource needing to be handled responsibly. I am always amazed at C&D recyclers in particular and how they can take material that to the average person looks like just a pile of debris, dirt and rocks, and extract value from it by sorting it by size and material type.

According to the EPA report, 530 million tons of C&D debris were generated in 2013. Portland cement concrete made up the largest portion of debris at 67 percent, followed by asphalt concrete, which accounted for 18 percent. Wood products followed at 8 percent and the other products, including steel, account for 7 percent combined. The majority of tonnage, 243.5 tons, came from roads and bridges, while 162.2 tons came from buildings. The remaining 124.5 tons were from other projects, EPA reports.

Also noteworthy is that of the C&D debris generated, more than 90 percent comes from demolition and just under 10 percent comes from construction. These numbers clearly show the deep connection between the C&D recycling industry and the demolition industry. Earlier this year the Construction & Demolition Recycling Association (CDRA), Aurora, Illinois, released the findings of a study it commissioned, which showed that more than 70 percent of C&D debris generated in the U.S. is recycled.

If it hadn’t been obvious before, the C&D recycling industry and demolition industry are intrinsically intertwined. There are opportunities to bring these industries together and work to move forward together. Ninety percent of inbound C&D materials coming from the demolition industry is simply too big to ignore.

As C&D debris is the largest single waste stream in the country, demolition and C&D recycling is a major contributor to the economy and recycling hundreds of millions of tons of C&D materials have a huge environmental impact. That these two industries should be working together on ways to promote their industries, improve safety, create end markets and lobby on shared regulatory interests seems like a no-brainer.