Industry news

// Company news

Oxford Recycling to install solar system

Oxford Recycling, a construction and demolition recycling firm headquartered in Englewood, Colorado, has announced plans to install a solar-powered system at its recycling plant.

To accomplish this, the company has chosen Denver-based Clean Energy Direct to install and support its 350-kilowatt (kW) photovoltaic solar system to produce electricity at its recycling facility.

“We chose to add solar to our operation to further our goal of preserving our natural resources and environment,” says John Kent, president of Oxford Recycling. “We’ve dedicated over an acre of our operating facility to the installation knowing it will more than pay for itself in the years to come in both energy savings and environmental benefits.”

Mark Clifton, director of Clean Energy Direct, says, “We’re extremely pleased to be working with Oxford Recycling on this project; helping them fulfill their vision and ours of supporting projects with multifaceted environmental benefits like energy offset and constructive land use.”

Clifton adds, “We’re using proven components assembled to a site-specific engineering solution for the Oxford Recycling project; we want the system to perform to their high standards of efficiency for years to come.”

Oxford Recycling, found in 1979, specializes in concrete, asphalt and wood products.

 

// Demolition projects

Cleveland’s Innerbelt Bridge comes down with a bang

On July 12, 2014, the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT), Trumbull-Great Lakes-Ruhlin (TGR) and thousands of Clevelanders said their final goodbyes to the Interstate 90 Innerbelt Bridge as it disappeared into the Cuyahoga River Valley.

Controlled explosive demolition of the steel skeleton of the 1959 Innerbelt Bridge took place shortly after 6 a.m. and dropped five of the nine steel spans of the old bridge.

Demolition began in January 2014 and has been a sequenced activity much like construction, only in reverse. The bridge railings, lights, barriers and concrete driving surface as well as specific steel spans over the river and railroads were all removed using traditional methods. Concrete piers and one additional steel span also were demolished during the summer using traditional methods. Demolition was expected to be complete by the end of August 2014.

When the bridge opened in 1959 it was the widest bridge in Ohio, carrying four lanes in each direction. The Innerbelt Bridge carried interstate traffic in both directions and was a classic steel “Pratt deck truss” with a cast-in-place concrete deck and steel parapets. It stood 128 feet tall, 116 feet wide and was 5,078 feet long.

ODOT is in the midst of replacing the 55-year-old bridge with two new structures –one to carry traffic in each direction. The pair have been named in honor of statesman George V. Voinovich. Replacement of the old bridge is vital to the success of moving people in and out of downtown Cleveland now and in the future, ODOT says. The first of the pair of bridges is now open and temporarily carrying traffic in both directions until completion of the second new bridge in late 2016.

The Innerbelt Bridge demolition is featured in the cover story “Team Players” available in the July/August 2014 issue of Construction & Demolition Recycling. The article, a video report and video of the implosion are available at www.CDRecycler.com.

 

// Company news

New York state C&D recycling facility struck by fire

A fire at Taylor Recycling in Montgomery, New York, on June 28, 2014, appears to have been caused by embers from welding work being performed on a grinder, according to a report in the Times Herald-Record.

The reports says at least eight fire companies responded to the fire, which took four hours to contain. Several conveyors caught fire while a steel structure on the property, which houses C&D debris, escaped damage, according to the report.

The Times Herald-Record report adds the plant will operate on a restricted basis for 30 days from the day of the fire while repairs are made. The cost of the damages have yet to be identified. The report notes that progress on Taylor’s proposed biomass power generation plant has not been affected by the fire.

Taylor Recycling is located 70 miles north of New York City. According to its website, www.taylorrecycling.com, the company offers a state-of-the-art construction and demolition waste recycling plant; one of the world’s first wallboard recycling plants; roll-off container rentals; products such as natural and dyed mulch; and demolition services.

 

// Legislation & regulations

Industry groups give highway bill lukewarm welcome

The International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association (IBTTA), a Washington, D.C.-based association representing toll facility owners, operators and vendors, has released a statement calling the U.S. Senate passage of H.R. 5021 (the Highway and Transportation Funding Act) an incomplete solution. The bill funds the federal Highway Trust Fund (HTF) through the end of 2014.

“Today’s Senate passage of the Highway Trust Fund patch does not negate the need for a long-term solution to our country’s infrastructure funding crisis,” said Patrick D. Jones, executive director and CEO of IBTTA. “Congress must develop a comprehensive plan to address the critical funding needs of our nation’s surface transportation system.”

Jones has nonetheless called on Congress to bring the bill to President Barack Obama. “In the interim, we encourage Congress to quickly resolve any differences between the House and Senate bills to keep the Highway Trust Fund solvent.”

Further actions recommended by the IBTTA, as spelled out by Jones, are:

• “We support an increase in the federal gasoline and diesel excise taxes, which have not been increased since 1993, to preserve the integrity of the federal Highway Trust Fund and provide funding certainty to states.
• “In addition, we urge Congress to lift the ban on tolling existing lanes of interstate highways for purposes of reconstruction, as the Obama Administration proposed in its Grow America Act.
• “Rebuilding the interstate highways will cost hundreds of billions of dollars over the next several decades, and current funding sources alone are not equal to the task. States should have the flexibility to use tolling if it makes sense for them.”

In his statement, Jones also quotes a five-year old National Surface Transportation Infrastructure Financing Commission document: “The roots of our current crisis lie in our failure as a nation to fully understand and, more important, act on the costs of deferred investment in our surface transportation infrastructure, especially in the face of an aging infrastructure, a growing population, and an expanding economy. This problem will only worsen until Congress addresses the fundamental fact that current HTF revenues are inadequate to support current federal program spending levels.”

Associated Equipment Distributors (AED) President and CEO Brian McGuire released the following statement regarding final passage of legislation to patch the HTF and keep federal surface transportation programs operating through May 2015.

“While we’re relieved that H.R. 5021 is on its way to the president’s desk, this isn’t a moment to celebrate,” McGuire said. “By waiting until the last minute to solve a problem we’ve known for years was coming, Congress brought the highway program and the construction industry to the brink of disaster. We hope this exercise has underscored to everyone on Capitol Hill that the Highway Trust Fund is in dire shape and needs additional revenues, be it from a gas tax increase or some other source. Providing the infrastructure that allows the economy to function is a core obligation of federal government. Now it’s up to Congress to fulfill that obligation and put the HTF back on the road to long-term solvency.”

 

// Legal issues

Florida DEP revokes permit for Pensacola C&D disposal facility

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has revoked a permit for the Rolling Hills Construction and Demolition Debris Disposal Facility in Pensacola, Florida, and says it will file a lawsuit against the company in Escambia County.

The Notice and Order of Revocation issued to South Palafox Properties LLC alleges that compliance issues at the Rolling Hills Construction and Demolition Debris Disposal Facility constitute violations of Florida law.

Compliance issues include the facility operating outside of permitted dimensions and failure to implement the Remedial Action Plan approval order issued by the department July 3, 2013, according to DEP.

“We are committed to taking any and all regulatory and enforcement action available to us to ensure the ongoing compliance issues at the Rolling Hills Construction and Demolition Debris Facility are addressed,” says Florida DEP Northwest District Director Shawn Hamilton. “We have worked diligently with the facility in an effort to address the issues, and, despite our attempts, the noncompliance continues. Revoking the permit and filing the lawsuit will prevent further violations and compel the facility to address compliance issues and implement corrective actions as required.”

The DEP says it will file a lawsuit against South Palafox Properties LLC seeking a judgment that will order the company to resolve compliance violations and comply with the department’s orders.

 

// Green building

PNC tops off new global headquarters

The PNC Financial Services Group Inc. celebrated the topping off of its new global headquarters, The Tower at PNC Plaza, in Pittsburgh on June 20, 2014.

Officials, labor union representatives, construction workers, PNC employees and project partners gathered to sign the final steel beam before it was placed atop the building structure. The 33-story, 800,000-square-foot tower in downtown Pittsburgh will house approximately 2,200 employees when it opens in the fall of 2015. The building will help accommodate PNC’s growth and support further business development in downtown Pittsburgh, the company says.

PNC expects the building will exceed Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum certification and set a new standard for green building. Since 2000, PNC says it has certified 225 projects to LEED standards—more newly constructed LEED-certified buildings than any other company.

By using ground-breaking technology, including a double-skin facade and a solar chimney, the tower is anticipated to ventilate naturally at least 42 percent of the year and consume 50 percent less energy than a typical office building. The building’s floor-to-ceiling windows and narrow floor plates are designed to allow daylight to illuminate 90 percent of all open workspaces, and a water recycling system is expected to decrease the tower’s water consumption by 77 percent.

The project team for the building includes PJ Dick Inc., a Pittsburgh-based general contractor; Gensler, a global design firm; Buro Happold, a United Kingdom-based engineering firm; and Paladino & Co., a Seattle-based green building consultant.

 

// Company news

WCA Waste chooses SCS Engineers to assist with Florida C&D landfill

The waste management firm WCA Waste Corp., headquartered in Houston, has named SCS Engineers, Long Beach, California, as its engineer of record for the company’s DeSoto construction and demolition (C&D) debris disposal facility in Arcadia, Florida.

SCS Engineers will begin by providing engineering services to WCA Waste for construction of a landfill cell, which will provide additional airspace for disposal operations to the lined landfill.

SCS says its assistance will include providing construction quality assurance, design improvements, construction management assistance, groundwater monitoring of on-site wetlands and updating estimates of the facility’s closure and long-term care costs.

The company says it also will modify the design of previously permitted cells in the remaining footprint of the WCA landfill with the goals of reducing the structural fill needed to construct disposal cells and increasing the disposal capacity of the landfill. SCS says this will be followed by permitting the proposed modifications and preparing construction drawings and bid documents for construction of the future cell.

“SCS’s engineering proficiency, innovation and compliance expertise will be instrumental in completing the Cell 2A construction on time, and key to designing and permitting modifications to the remaining undeveloped area of the landfill and achieving future expansions to the landfill footprint,” says Derrick Standley, a WCA vice president.

 

// Demolition projects

St. Louis to demolish 26 vacant buildings

The city of St. Louis announced June 9, 2014, it will begin tearing down 26 vacant, condemned buildings near Ranken Technical College, both to reduce crime and to prime the area for redevelopment.

The city says it chose this location because it presents a strong chance to leverage new private investment. The city’s Residential Market Analysis (MVA) found the neighborhood is ripe for revitalization.

“We are using the tools and money available to us to help neighborhoods that have gone through six decades of private-sector disinvestment,” said Mayor Francis Slay during a press conference. “Using the MVA and our own experience, we are identifying neglected neighborhoods that have enough strength to attract private investment. History has taught us that the best and maybe the only way to revitalize those neighborhoods are public/private partnerships. Government’s job is to prepare neighborhoods for development and provide incentives. But, government investment without substantial private investment and know-how is doomed to fail.”

Removing a concentration of vacant and condemned buildings and providing other direct interventions also will reduce crime and boost the quality of life for current residents, according to the city.

Ranken Technical College has already committed nearly $10 million in redevelopment to the neighborhood, including purchasing more than 200 parcels of land and constructing 56 new homes with its carpentry students.

“Our efforts with the Ranken Community Development Corporation (RCDC) have allowed us to not only train the next generation of the workforce, but also to be a driving force in the rebuilding of our great city,” said Stan Shoun, president of Ranken Technical College. “The city’s targeted investment will create a win-win opportunity for students and residents.”

The city will spend approximately $275,000 of its dedicated demolition budget on the project area. Of the eight contracts that have been awarded to demolish 13 of the buildings so far, 100 percent of them have gone to minority-owned firms.

Several of the contractors will demolish the buildings by hand so that St. Louis brick and other materials can be salvaged for reuse.

The city of St. Louis Land Reutilization Authority owns 17 of the buildings slated for demolition because the original owners abandoned their properties and stopped paying taxes. Nine others are privately owned. The city says it will pay for all of the needed demolitions, and then bill the nine private property owners for the expense.

The targeted buildings went through an extensive vetting process, according to the city. Each of the 26 buildings was inspected and determined to be dangerous and beyond rehabilitation. None are historic nor in a historic district. The structures present a nuisance and safety hazard to the community, it has been reported, and were often the subjects of complaints by neighbors, elected officials and police.

“I want to thank the mayor, his staff and the police chief for everyone’s hard work that brought this important and transforming project to fruition,” said Missouri Sen. Jamilah Nasheed. “This demolition project goes hand-in-hand with Senate Bill 731 that I passed this past session, which empowers community groups to take legal action to rid their neighborhoods of abandoned eyesore properties that can breed crime,” Nasheed added.

 

// Forecasts & statistics

Philadelphia exceeds 70 percent waste diversion goal

The city of Philadelphia has exceeded its goal of 70 percent waste diversion for the second consecutive year in 2012, according to a report issued by Mayor Michael A. Nutter’s Office of Sustainability. According to the Greenworks 2014 Progress Report, half of all waste generated by the city was recycled and another 23 percent was used for energy production.

The report also notes in 2013 the Philadelphia Streets Department began diverting all waste from landfill through a combination of recycling and waste-to-energy (WTE) practices. To achieve a 73 percent diversion rate, the Philadelphia Streets Department improved recycling rates in all waste streams, capturing more than 1.3 million tons of recycling in 2012, according to the report.

C&D debris diversion reached a record 80 percent in 2012, with a total of 243,365 tons of C&D material kept out of landfills for reuse and recycling. Residential recycling also reached an all-time high of 122,680 tons, which puts the curbside recycling rate at 21 percent, the report adds.

The Philadelphia Streets Department supported a wide variety of citywide recycling and waste reduction efforts in 2013, distributing 60,000 recycling bins to residents and publishing the first Business Recycling Toolkit. In April 2014 more than 14,000 volunteers took part in the Sixth Annual Philly Spring Cleanup, collecting more than a million pounds of litter and 15 tons of recyclables.

The city’s Waste Watchers program, now in its fourth year, recruits volunteers to support recycling and composting efforts at major events. In November 2013 Waste Watchers volunteers helped the Philadelphia marathon recycle or compost 86 percent of the waste generated during the race weekend. Waste Watchers was awarded a grant from Bloomberg Philanthropies to support expansion to five additional events.

The full Greenworks 2014 Progress Report is available at www.phila.gov/green/PDFs/Greenworksprogressreport.pdf.

 

// Association activities

CDRA opens nominations for C&D recycling awards

Nomination forms for the awards program of the Construction & Demolition Recycling Association (CDRA) are available for download at www.cdrecycling.org/cdra-awards. The honorees will be announced at the association’s Annual Meeting on March 30, 2015, at the C&D World 2015 Exhibition & Conference in Nashville.

The Construction & Demolition Recycling Hall of Fame is part of the CDRA Industry Awards program. Introduced at C&D World 2013 in Tampa, the hall is designed to honor those individuals whose careers have best served the industry and the CDRA. Recyclers and vendors are eligible for the reward. Currently the Hall of Fame has five members: Mason Brown of Big City Crushed Concrete; Anthony Lomangino of Sun Recycling; Bill Guptail of General Kinematics; Lou Sanzaro of Ocean County (New Jersey) Remanufacturing; and Tadj Ondrick of Ted Ondrick Co.

The CDRA Recycler of the Year award is given annually to recognize the individual or company that exemplifies excellence in the C&D recycling industry. The CDRA Member of the Year award is presented to the CDRA board or committee member deemed to have best served the association in the previous year.

The CDRA Recycler of the Year is meant to honor recycling operations in the C&D recycling industry that have made an extraordinary contribution to the industry through the one or more of the following criteria, the CDRA says:

• advancing business operations that result in increased recycling rates;
• developing novel methods of marketing and conducting business;
• innovative practices in employer-employee relations;
• ensuring safer operations;
• protecting the environment; and
• developing industry standards.

The CDRA Member of the Year is selected by a committee of the CDRA based on extraordinary service to the mission of the organization and the industry during the previous year.

Candidates must exemplify leadership, which the CDRA defines as outstanding and enduring contributions to the success of the association. They also must serve on a CDRA committee or the CDRA board of directors.

Nominations will be reviewed and winners determined by a committee of the CDRA. All nominations are due by Jan. 14, 2015, and can be submitted via e-mail to info@cdrecycling.org. More information can be obtained by contacting the CDRA at 630-585-7530 or at info@cdrecycling.org.