Industry News

// association activities
NSWMA, CMRA Develop C&D Wood Fuel Specifications
The Construction Materials Recycling Association (CMRA), Eola, Ill., and the National Solid Wastes Management Association (NSWMA), Washington, D.C., have jointly developed what they refer to as viable, in-use construction and demolition wood fuel specifications. The specifications are based on industry experience, permit requirements for boilers using C&D wood as a fuel stock and regulatory requirements governing the use of this material, the organizations say.

According to the NSWMA, the goal of the specifications is to provide guidance on what works in the marketplace for C&D wood fuel buyers and sellers.

Chaz Miller, who is responsible for managing NSWMA’s state and federal regulatory task forces, described the importance of this development. “America is looking to reduce waste volumes in landfills by finding economically sound and environmentally safe ways to reuse and recycle wastes. These specifications will elevate recycled C&D wood—a large portion of the materials generated at construction and demolition sites—to the same level as long-time and proven recyclables, such as paper and metal.”

For an in depth look at the new specifications, see “A Little Guidance” on page 34.

// legal issues
DOJ Makes Arrests in Illegal Dumping Case
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has arrested the owner of a New Jersey solid waste management company and three associates on federal charges that they conspired to transport and dump thousands of tons of asbestos-contaminated debris at an upstate New York farm containing wetlands in 2006.

The four people arrested are Julius DeSimone, Rome, N.Y.; Donald Torriero, Wellington, Fla.; Cross Nicastro II, Frankfort, N.Y.; and Dominick Mazza, Tinton Falls, N.J.

In addition to the four men, the DOJ indicted Mazza & Sons Inc., a New Jersey-based waste management firm. The arraignment took place June 13, 2011, in Syracuse, N.Y.

The indictment describes a scheme to illegally dump thousands of tons of asbestos-contaminated, pulverized C&D debris that was processed at facilities operated by both Eagle Recycling and Mazza & Sons Inc.’s, New Jersey-based solid waste management facilities. The crushed debris was transported to and dumped at a farm in Frankfort, N.Y., owned by Cross Nicastro II.

According to court documents, Torriero and other conspirators concealed the illegal dumping by fabricating a New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) permit and forging the name of a DEC official on the fraudulent permit.

// company news
Independent Recycling Services Added to Armstrong Roster
Armstrong World Industries, a Lancaster, Pa.-based manufacturer of ceiling tiles, has named Independent Recycling Services Inc. (IRSI), Chicago, as one of its Armstrong Certified Construction & Demolition processors.

As a certified processor, IRSI will collect ceiling tiles that have been removed from construction, renovation and demolition sites. The company can then segregate and prepare discarded materials for shipment to the nearest Armstrong ceilings plant, where they will be used in the manufacture of new ceiling tiles. Armstrong designates new tiles made with high percentages of recycled ceilings as Ceiling-2-Ceiling tiles.

Armstrong says its Armstrong Ceiling Recycling Program, which began in 1999, is the longest running program of its kind in the country. The company says the program allows building owners to send ceilings from renovation projects to the nearest Armstrong ceiling plant instead of sending them to landfills.

Since starting the program, Armstrong says it has recycled more than 100 million square feet of discarded ceiling tiles.

IRSI, founded in 1976, receives, sorts and processes a wide range of non-hazardous materials generated during construction and demolition projects in the greater Chicago and northwestern Indiana areas.

// association activities
NDA Inaugurates Environmental Excellence Awards
The National Demolition Association (NDA), Doylestown, Pa., has presented its Inaugural Environmental Excellence Awards to 11 member companies that the association says have performed demolition projects that have had a significant positive impact on the quality of life. The winning projects and companies receiving the award are:

• City of Lights Casino Removal, Alpine Demolition Services, Batavia, Ill.;

• Industrial Brownhoist Site, Bierlein Companies, Midland, Mich.;

• Ohio State University Medical Facilities, B&B Wrecking and Excavating, Cleveland;

• Duke Energy, Environmental Holdings Group, Charlotte, N.C.;

• York Mills Renovation, EnviroVantage, Epping, N.H.;

• Clovis Landfill Reclamation Project, Kroeker Inc., Fresno, Calif.;

• The Minnesota Building, Lloyd’s Construction Services, Savage, Minn.;

• Harvard University Art Museum, NASDI, Waltham, Mass.;

• Beacon’s Bluff Redevelopment, Rachel Contracting LLC, St. Michael, Minn.;

• Refrigerant Recovery, Rapid Recovery, Peoria, Ill.; and

• Berth 301, Port of Los Angeles, Standard Industries, Ventura, Calif.

Those planning to attend the C&D Recycling Forum, Sept. 25-27, in Ellicott City (Baltimore), Md., will have the opportunity to hear more from Environmental Excellence Award winners. Marty Berkowitz, trading manager for Standard Industries will discuss the success of the Port of Los Angeles project in a session titled “Excelling at Recycling” Monday, Sept. 26. More information is available at www.cdrecycler.com/forum.

// company news
Cherry Offers On-site Asphalt Recycling
Cherry, a Houston-based recycling and demolition company, has announced it will now bring its fractionating equipment to road crews to recycle asphalt roadway material at job sites. The portable processing equipment fractionates asphalt roadway material into reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) for use in hot mix asphalt.

By fractionating RAP at the job site, Cherry contends contractors save time and transportation costs because asphalt material does not need to be shipped to another location for processing. The portable equipment fractionates asphalt material to a guaranteed size—0.5 inch or smaller—that can be immediately used in making hot mix asphalt for new roadways.

According to Wesley Guidry, division manager for Cherry’s portable equipment, fractionated RAP can comprise up to 25 percent of hot mix asphalt. This reduces the amount of virgin materials and oil needed for the finished product. And, it results in a lower finished product price.

“Crews that recycle by using fractionated RAP also are helping preserve the environment by reducing the amount of asphalt material that is dumped in landfills,” Guidry says.

Cherry’s portable fractionating equipment is capable of producing between 800 to 1,000 tons of RAP per day and can be mobilized to job sites throughout Texas and Louisiana.

In related news, the company recently began accepting “clean” residential composition asphalt shingles for recycling at its facility in Fresno, Texas. Cherry says it plans to open additional shingle recycling locations in the Houston area.

// company news
Rhode Island DEM Approves License for C&D Recycler
The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM) has issued a three-year solid waste facility management license to TLA Providence LLC to operate TLA Pond View of East Providence, R.I. The license imposes new conditions and will allow the company to continue to expand its construction and demolition debris processing facility. Over a phased-in schedule, and once an air monitoring plan is in place, the recycling facility will be licensed to accept up to 1,500 tons per day of C&D debris.

According to the DEM, the license was issued after a thorough review and consideration of public comments on TLA Pond View’s application for a license to continue and expand its current operation. The agency held two public hearings on the company’s request late last year. More than 250 comments from the public were made at the hearings and during the subsequent public comment period. DEM says it reviewed and responded to each of the comments.

“Today’s license decision was carefully crafted after reviewing the application and public concerns, and includes important conditions designed to protect health and the environment. DEM will continue to aggressively monitor the Pond View facility to ensure that it operates in compliance and to reach out to the city to coordinate on conditions and oversight of this facility,” says Janet Coit, DEM director.

As a result of the review process, DEM has attached 27 operating conditions to TLA Pond View’s license. These conditions address public concerns related to a number of environmental and safety issues. TLA Pond View is required, under the new license, to substantially reduce the amount of time specific materials can be stored at the facility from three months to no longer than 14 days and to implement an air quality monitoring plan for an expanded set of parameters. The air quality monitoring plan must be submitted to DEM within 45 days of the license issuance and must be implemented within 30 days of DEM’s approval of the plan.

// association activities
NDA Elects New President
Don Rachel, CEO of Rachel Contracting, St. Michael, Minn., has been named president of the National Demolition Association (NDA), Doylestown, Pa. Rachel has been actively involved with the NDA since 1990 and has served as chairperson of the Environmental and Safety committees and as vice president, secretary and treasurer.

As president, Rachel says he is determined to keep the association focused on giving its member companies the tools they need to be successful in the demolition industry. “We can’t control the national economy, but we can give our members the resources they need to control their own individual business economy,” Rachel says. “Our goal is to add real value to membership in the NDA by producing deliverables that will positively impact the bottom line.”

The Demolition Safety Manual is one example a manual of safe work practices for the demolition industry. “The NDA not only created the manual, but has also continually updated it, with the latest update due out this year,” Rachel notes. “We work closely with OSHA and the U.S. EPA to make sure the manual reflects all that is new regarding demolition safety.”

Other changes to the NDA Executive Committee are the election of Jeff Kroeker of Kroeker Inc., Fresno, Calif., as vice president; Peter Banks of CEI Boston LLC, Norfolk, Mass., as secretary; and Scott Knightly of EnviroVantage, Epping, N.H., as treasurer. Raymond Passeno, CIH, of Bierlein Cos., Midland, Mich., is past president.

The association has appointed new members to its board of directors. They are John Adamo Jr. of Adamo Demolition Co., Detroit, Mich.; Gary Bishop of Bromley Demolition, Bromley, Kent, U.K.; Mike Casbon of ERM Inc., Rolling Meadows, Ill.; Greg Gray of NASDI LLC, Waltham, Mass.; Ben Kates Jr. of Midwest Wrecking Co., Oklahoma City, Okla.; and James Milburn of Kinsale Contracting Group Inc., Westmont, Ill.

// forecasts & statistics
ABC Reports Modest Increase in Construction Backlog
According the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC), Washington, D.C., the Construction Backlog Indicator (CBI) for the first quarter of 2011 averaged 7.3 months, a 4 percent increase from 7.1 months during the fourth quarter of 2010, and up from 6.1 months from the same time in 2010. CBI is a forward-looking indicator that measures the amount of construction work under contract to be completed in the future.

“While the commercial and industrial construction industry is no longer in deep decline, meaningful recovery remains elusive, with CBI still below levels associated with vigorous nonresidential construction activity,” says Anirban Basu, ABC chief economist. “However, crisis conditions have abated and the indicator is moving in the right direction. CBI is now 33 percent above its historic low point of 5.5 months registered in January 2010.

“The expectation is that the U.S. economy will fall short of growing 3 percent in 2011. At the same time, other macroeconomic factors, including sharp increases in construction materials prices, have the potential to reverse the stabilization in activity that ABC presently observes,” Basu says. “A decline in backlog associated with the infrastructure category is likely a reflection of an ongoing reduction in the influence of federal stimulus funding in a number of segments, including highway and street and conservation and development. Given the expected reduction in infrastructure investment by state and local governments, further decline in backlog in the infrastructure category is likely,” Basu adds. “The improvement in commercial construction-related backlog is precisely what ABC observed and forecasted in its previous report, and we anticipate that this segment will continue to show signs of life and growth in the months ahead.”

// asphalt recycling
Indiana Firm Opens Facility Capable of Producing 100 Percent Recycled Asphalt Pavement
Brooks Construction Co. Inc., based in Fort Wayne, Ind., has opened a new facility that it says will be capable of producing 100 percent recycled asphalt paving material.

The company says the product, called HyRAP 100%, was developed in conjunction with Crowley Chemical Co.

Brooks Construction claims HyRAP is the first material of its kind in the country.

“We are excited to have the opportunity to share the news about HyRAP and the important role this environmentally friendly material will have in the future development of our region and across the nation,” says John Brooks, co-owner of Brooks Construction.

According to Brooks Construction, the facility was funded entirely by private money and did not receive grants or government funding. “This plant is the first of its kind in the United States and the only one with proven capabilities to produce consistent quality at high rates of recycle usage, using up to and including 100 percent recycled materials,” Brooks adds.

According to Brooks, benefits to HyRAP include:

• HyRAP can be produced without additional mining of aggregates or use of virgin aggregate, reducing petroleum consumption.

• Future HyRAP facilities can be located near jobsites because there is no need to be near virgin aggregate material sources or quarries.

•  The materials in reclaimed asphalt pavement are not deteriorated by time and re-use. The properties of the original virgin materials still exist in their entirety and can be re-used indefinitely.

// conferences & events
Dallas to Host 2011 Shingle Recycling Forum
The Construction Materials Recycling Association (CMRA) has announced that the 2011 version of the Asphalt Shingle Recycling Forum will take place in Dallas Oct. 27-28.

In a news release announcing Dallas as the event venue, the CMRA states, “Texas is rapidly becoming one of the hottest areas in North America for the use of recycled asphalt shingles and other roofing materials.”

“The Fifth Asphalt Shingle Recycling Forum has the premier program on the subject for those entering the market and others looking for the latest technical information on the use of recycled shingles,” says Jason Haus, CEO of Dem-Con Cos. LLC, Shakopee, Minn.

Among the topics scheduled to be addressed at the event are:

• Supply of RAS (recycled asphalt shingles)—the value of shingle recycling to the roofing sector;

• Hot-mix plant and paving—performance/laboratory;

• How to work with environmental regulators;

• Alternative supply, processing technology and uses of recycled roofing;

• Recycling 101: educating roofing contractors about recycling; and

• Best practices.

Also included in this year’s event is a tour of the Dallas APAC-Texas Inc. asphalt plant and shingle recycling facility.

The Fifth Asphalt Shingle Recycling Forum event is being organized by the CMRA and is co-sponsored by Owens Corning, the Asphalt Roofing Manufacturers Association (ARMA), Dem-Con Cos. LLC and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). Other sponsors are Rotochopper Inc., CBI and Asphalt Shingle Grinding Service LLC.