Road to Recovery

"It looks like someone dropped a bomb 150 miles east of us and, then a few weeks later, someone dropped a bomb 150 miles west of us."

That is how Sid Brian, president of Natural Resources Recovery in Baton Rouge, La., describes the destruction in his region when the twin hurricanes named Katrina and Rita passed through. Brian, who recycles construction and demolition debris and has a C&D landfill, has toured areas where the storms made landfall and says there is no way the photos, written accounts or even television can begin to describe the devastation he saw.

That is the description anyone who has seen the area gives. They also say that recycling a lot of the debris generated by the storms is mostly a pipedream.

Estimates of how much debris was generated by the two hurricanes vary. One Army Corp of Engineers estimate put it at about 670 million cubic yards. Mississippi alone had at least 23 million cubic yards of debris of its own in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, and many consider that a conservative estimate.

The loss incurred from the storms was staggering. Katrina alone took 1,000 lives and has caused anywhere between $35 billion and $60 billion in damages, according to various estimates.

In addition to the tragic loss of life, the storms also took a toll on the businesses of the regions. Katrina halted traffic from the Port of New Orleans. According to statistics gathered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), there were slightly more than 22,000 business establishments in areas of Louisiana and Mississippi that FEMA designated as flooded and/or as damaged areas.

Hurricane Rita, which followed in Katrina’s wake, was a less destructive storm, but still took its toll. FEMA reports about 800 establishments were in damaged and flooded areas, mostly in and around Beaumont and Port Arthur, Texas, and Lake Charles, La.

The U.S. Department of Labor estimates that the number of people left unemployed by Katrina and Rita is around 363,000.

The emotional, physical and economic effects of the hurricanes are still being measured in their aftermaths. While many issues have yet to be decided, one thing is clear: There is much work ahead.

For those in the C&D industry, many thought the storm damage would be a chance for more employment, as all the debris needs to be collected and disposed of in some manner. Currently the cleanup efforts are concentrated largely on moving the material so people can return to their homes and lives.

The Army Corps of Engineers has awarded four fixed-priced contracts for debris removal in the areas affected by Hurricane Katrina. Each of these contracts has a value of up to $500 million, with the option of an additional $500 million.

Debris removal contracts have been awarded to the following companies:

Ashbritt Inc. will work within the state of Mississippi, and the remaining three contractors will work in the state of Louisiana. The terms of all four contracts require the contractors to give a preference to those organizations, firms or individuals residing or doing business primarily in the area affected by Hurricane Katrina.

Each contract requires the contractor to submit a sub-contracting plan with the goal of including the following participation: 73.5 percent for small businesses, 3 percent for service-disabled veterans, 3.2 percent for small Historically Underutilized Business (HUB)-zone concerns, 10.6 percent for small disadvantaged businesses and 11 percent for small businesses owned by women.

Contracting awards were given based on past performance, technical capability, ability to provide sub-contracting goals for small and disadvantaged businesses, ability to respond and price. The work under these contracts will cover debris removal, debris disposal, demolition and other recovery related work.

But in general these companies don’t have the equipment to handle the clean up. That includes loaders, excavators and trucks to collect and haul the material and grinders with accompanying excavators to volume-reduce the material and maybe recycle some of it.

The Construction Materials Recycling Association (CMRA), through Green Seal Environmental, which runs the New England Chapter of the association, gathered a list of the equipment available for the cleanup effort from members interested in heading to the area. The list was shared with large contractors and relevant federal agencies. However, currently the government is also favoring local contractors. To register with the federal government contractor list for the cleanup, businesses are advised to go to www.rebuildingthegulfcoast.gov for more information.

Stan Meiburg, deputy regional administrator for U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 4, says he knows the cleanup is a big job. Currently the agency has been assigned the task of "debris management" by the White House, which he describes as facilitating the work on the removal of the debris across the various local, state and federal agencies. He says recycling is a preferred method, but recognizes the difficulty of that because of the commingled nature of the material.

That is a sentiment echoed by some recycling professionals who have visited the area. Most did not want to be quoted because of a fear their comments would offend those authorities handling the cleanup and cut them out of possible work. They say the devastation is complete and that the authorities are just getting the material out of the way. "They could recycle if they collected it properly, but they aren’t," says one recycler who visited Biloxi, Miss., and New Orleans. Another says, "The material is very commingled. I don’t think they are going to take the time to sort it out. If anything, they will grind it up and get it out of there, if not just burn it."

In fact, there is burning of vegetative material going on in the area. Burning of C&D material is not out of the question, says Mieburg, and will not require a relaxation of EPA’s air standards as long as it is done using proper air curtain equipment.

One company that is going to try to advance the recycling agenda is a new division of Southern Waste Services, Lantana, Fla. Gulf Coast Environmental has purchased a 315-acre greenfield site for a C&D landfill in Stone County, Miss., 22 miles north of the Gulf Coast. There, the company plans to build a recycling facility at the base of the landfill. Two other recycling facilities are being planned for near Waveland, Miss. and for between Biloxi, Miss., and Mobile, Ala.

Philip Medico of Southern says the company is looking to create a long-term solution for the area. The companies that race in after a storm perform a necessary and wonderful service for the immediate aftermath. "But we are looking to put in an infrastructure in place that will service the state on a long-term basis," Medico says. Damaging storms are a fact of life in the area, and there will be more material generated. In addition, putting these facilities in now will help the area’s recycling efforts in the future.

Sid Brian of Baton Rouge says his operation has been "covered up" with material, running 12 hours per day, seven days per week, to volume-reduce commingled C&D. By mid-October he had already shredded more than 400,000 cubic yards of vegetative matter as well. His crushing operation has been at a standstill, as the material so far has been too commingled to pull the aggregate out of it. However, before the storm he crushed up all the concrete that was on site and immediately sold out of it after the storm hit.

Brian expects that concrete recycling will be quite active in New Orleans. In addition, white goods, autos and metals in general will be recycled, and some vegetative matter will be ground up for mulch and compost. Brian says there "was a lot of equipment that came in here fast after the storm, like it was a gold rush," but some of that was sitting as the specific projects were sifted out. In addition, the preference for local businesses has shut out those from other areas, at least until the resources of the local contractors are exhausted.

According to the current timetable, during at least the first six months, everything will be in a "respond" mode as authorities work to clear the streets and remove the debris. Afterward, more of the recycling and reuse should take place. It also may provide C&D recyclers with their best opportunity to recover materials in order to provide a small glimmer of silver lining to Katrina’s and Rita’s dark clouds.