The Construction Materials Re-cycling Association will undertake a major study to determine the economic impacts and environmental benefits of C&D recycling. The study is expected to take several months to finish by an outside contractor, and then will be widely distributed to the national media and available on the association’s website and to its members. Not only will this allow C&D recyclers to point to the benefits their activities bring, it will also provide credible industry information for the industry to use in business meetings, such as for financing. Below is the outline the contractor will use to develop the study.

The recycling of construction and demolition (C&D) materials is a multi-billion dollar industry. This should not be surprising because of the amount of these materials generated every year; there are estimates as high as 650 million tons annually.

C&D comes from basically two sources: building-related, and road and bridge projects. Included in this stream is concrete, asphalt, wood, drywall, plastics, carpet, ceiling tile, asphalt shingles, metals, among many other materials. These are the basic building blocks of our country, and to discard them in a landfill when viable markets are often available is a waste of our resources.

The C&D recycling industry’s trade group, the Construction Materials Recycling Association (CMRA), wants to measure both the economic impact and environmental benefits of C&D recycling in the United States and put the results in a report that will be available to the public. The report should contain comparisons people can grasp, such as enough material is recycled to fill the Grand Canyon 100 times.

Specifically this report should include:

 

Economic Impact

Equipment—Operations should in-clude mobile equipment such as excavators, loaders and skidsteers. In addition, there are wear parts and other replacement products.

• Concrete/Asphalt processing plants
• Mixed C&D recycling plants
• Wood processing plants
• Metal processing plants
• Drywall recycling plants
• Shingle recycling plants
• Demolition debris recycling plants

 

End Products

• Recycled aggregates

1. Roadbase
2. Concrete aggregate
3. Recycled asphalt pavement
4. Rip-rap
5. Stabilization
6. Sand
7. Drain Rock
8. Pea Gravel

• Wood

1. Engineered wood
2. Mulch
3. Biomass
4. Soil amendments

• Drywall

1. Beneficial land application
2. New drywall
3. Cement additive
4. Soil amendments

• Plastics

1. Various

• Carpet

1. Backing
2. New carpet

• Asphalt shingles

1. Hot mix asphalt
2. Fuel
3. Block

• Metals

1. Various

• Paper & OCC

1. Various

• C&D fines

1. Alternative Daily Cover
2. Fill
3. Topsoil

 

Labor Force

All employed in this industry need to be considered green workers, and a payroll estimate will need to be developed.

 

Environmental Benefits

Recycling has long been considered environmentally beneficial. C&D recycling, because of the large amounts of material generated, provides even more benefits.

Fossil Fuel Savings—The use of C&D biomass products saves on greenhouse gases and the use of fossil fuels. For example, C&D wood used as a fuel replaces coal or gas or similar. That wood, whether it was left in a forest or thrown in a landfill, would have released its GHGs. It is environmentally beneficial to recover the Btu value while leaving the GHGs from the fossil fuel in the ground.

Air Pollution Avoidance—Aggre-gate recycling is often performed on or near the site of generation, saving on trucking the material to a landfill and trucking in new virgin aggregate from quarries, which are often far out of town. In addition, C&D recycling facilities of all stripes are often located in and near urban areas where material is generated, allowing for less trucking to landfills.

Landfill Diversion—It is axiomatic that any material recycled does not go as waste into a landfill, saving on landfill space and reducing the need to develop more such facilities.

Natural Resource Retention—An example of this is the use of recycled asphalt shingles into hot mix asphalt for paving, replacing petroleum-based bitumen and saving on oil resources. Recycled aggregate replaces mined natural aggregate, reducing the need for crushed stone and sand and gravel activities.

 

C&D World 2012 Beginning to Take Shape

C&D World, the Annual Meeting of the CMRA, is being held in Nashville, Tenn., March 25-27, 2012, at the downtown convention center. Some presentations have been already confirmed for the event:

• Panel on LEED 2012 changes and their effect on C&D recycling;
• The new Certification of Recycling Rate program for C&D recycling facilities;
• How to deal with regulators;
• Panels on recycling of wire, tires and carpet;
• Public infrastructure spending;
• C&D wood fuel from a user’s perspective; and
• C&D plastics recycling.

More information will be placed on both the CMRA’s main website, www.cdrecycling.org and on www.cdworldmag.com.

 

CMRA Holds Mid-year Board Meeting

On September 26, 2011, the CMRA held its Mid-year Board Meeting at the Chateau Elan near Atlanta, Ga. Several issues of importance to the C&D industry were covered by the board. Below are the minutes of the meeting.

 

1. Roll Call/Minutes       Adelman

Attending board members: Karl Mockros, Waste Management; John Adelman, CPRC Group; Jason Haus, Dem-Con; Ryan O’Gara, SKB Environmental; Michael Dinneen, Frank Road Recycling; Jay Giltz, Eagle Crusher; John Kurtz, Kurtz Brothers; Valerie Montecalvo, Bayshore Recycling; Dan Costello, Costello Dismantling; Tim Griffing, CBI; Mary Pat Geppert, MP Demolition, Jonathan Hixon, ERRCO and LL&S; Tom Roberts, Innviron. Visitors: Leonard Cherry, Cherry Companies; Ken Patterson, Patterson Services; Kevin Herb, Broad Run Recycling; Marty Hunter, Hunter Demolition. Staff: William Turley and Betty Schulz.

Meeting called to order at 9:05 a.m. EST by John Adelman.

July 21, 2011 minutes: Motion by Tom Roberts, Second by Valerie—minutes approved unanimously.

 

2. Financial Report          Haus

There were multiple handouts that accompanied this report. The balance sheet as of the date of the meeting was discussed. The cash position of the association has grown stronger but it must be noted that we are in the cash poor months of the association as most revenues are received between the months of November-March. The income statement was also reviewed. This is only for the first quarter of the fiscal year so it does not include most revenue generating events. The revenue for the shingle forum is included in this quarter and this is proving to be an event that will generate some income for the association. The first quarter budget to actual was also reviewed, indicating there are still some timing differences related to shingle recycling forum revenue but by the next meeting the budget to actual will be more normalized so we can make a true analysis. The fiscal ending 2012 budget was also reviewed and show in its new format.

There have been many changes in the way we will report the financial position of the association that will allow for more transparent reporting, better data analysis and decision making as well as real time performance review of the association. This will take some time to fully implement but we have made great strides in the first quarter of FY 2012.

Adelman made a motion to approve the financial report, with Montecalvo seconding. The report was approved unanimously.

3. Convention Committee           Montecalvo

2012 A contract has been signed with the Renaissance and the Nashville convention center for our annual C&D World Show for 2012. The rooms will be $179 per night. There was conversation surrounding the program of the show. Program suggestions were discussed that included two tracks. A materials panel, CORR discussion and vendor panel were all discussed. The emphasis should be training and getting the information to our attendees is to be the main focus of the show. The Issues & Education fundraiser will be held at the rotunda of the Country Music Hall of Fame this year. There was talk of a band and we are still in need of sponsors.

2013 CMRA is scheduled to be back in Las Vegas for the 2013 show but we have not secured a venue at this time. Discussion was had about going back to the Rio and this received positive feedback from the board of directors.

2014 We are again working with the ConExpo-con/Agg show for this event. In the past, we have discussed a C&D pavilion and the details have not yet been worked out for this option. It is expected that we will again be at Paris Resort & Casino but this had not yet been confirmed.

 

4. Member Services Committee                               O’Gara

Ryan O’Gara discussed the rollout and status of the membership drive. Once of the expectations of the drive is that each board member must sign up two new companies as members.

Ryan also discussed a membership drive competition that would build our membership. As part of the program, CMRA will send out membership lists that will have current, delinquent and non-renewing members for each of the board members to use as part of their effort. Another part of the program will be advertisements in C&D World for the membership drive and e-mailing to the membership at large.

Competition will be based on points. CMRA staff will be tracking points for new members. If a new member is signed up for the remainder of 2012, the person responsible for this new member will be awarded one point, if they sign up for 2012 and 2013, they would be awarded two points. The person with the most points will receive two free hotel nights in Nashville as well as a free registration at C&D World in Nashville. The current status of membership is up 35 members from the previous year.

Adelman discussed that all members should be published in C&D World magazine and new members highlighted to add value to the membership as well as an e-mail blast when new members are added.

 

5. Material Standards Committee            Costello

The wood specs have been completed and sent out the board and membership in hopes that these specs and language can be used industry wide to promote the use of C&D derived wood as a fuel and to eliminate the thought that this material is a waste. It is also the intent to look into specs for other materials that our industry handles. This may include shingles, plastics, drywall, carpet, tires, etc. It was also discussed that we need to take caution when working on additional specs as other industries may already have specs available, (i.e. tire recyclers).

6. Safety Committee      Geppert

Mary Pat Geppert discussed this is a new committee and will begin working with members to develop this group and plan what the next initiatives will be. Anyone that has potential members for the committee is to contact Mary Pat.

 

7. Shingle Recycling Committee                               Haus

Haus reported there has not been a conference call since that last board call. The group continues to work on collecting white papers, asbestos sampling and air sampling data to have added to the shingle recycling website. Most states have now been contacted and that database of specification is nearing completion. It is expected that it will be rolled out at the Forum in October.

GAF has sponsored the shinglerecycling.org website in the amount of $15,000 to have the website redone. That will include a section with maps and states that will be interactive will allow the user to click on each state and find a recycler.

The best management practices and white papers will also be added to the website revision. There have been 51 new white papers identified that are not currently included in the website that will be included as the site is upgraded.

Haus also discussed the Shingle Recycling Forum that will be held in Dallas, October 27-28.

 

8. Awards            Turley

The awards process was discussed and the categories are Government, Mixed C&D, Concrete Recycler and C&D Recycler of the Year. There was also discussion about adding a category of End Product User or Contractor of the Year. The current status of the awards seems to be a little stale and this needs to be reinvigorated to make this a noteworthy award. Bill is looking for other suggestions and nominations for the current year awards.

 

9. New Business               Turley

EPA NHSM Rule—Within the Non Hazardous Secondary Materials Rule the C&D Wood has been called out and it would have significant impacts on our industry. Gary Sondermeyer from Bayshore Recycling was brought into the call to provide an update on where the EPA stands on the NHSM rule. Gary traveled to the EPA offices in D.C. to ask for a stay in the rule so the details and issues could be worked out. The EPA indicated it did not intend to delay or stay the rule but wanted to work with industry on a compromise. One of the compromises was a discussion of instead of issuing the rule; the EPA could develop a formal guidance paper and an approach that can establish national benchmarks to aid in the legitimacy tests. One suggestion was a framework of averages compared with other items, i.e. wood to coal. The goal of this would be to establish categorical exemptions that would allow wood to be excluded from the rule once the benchmarks were determined and proven.

The EPA has concern that any deviation from the proposed rule and language would be that it would be petitioned and may be ruled illegal if the environmental groups were in opposition, which most agree would be. The bottom line is that the EPA cannot issue a rule through guidance as they have tried this before and it was challenged and failed. The current rules that have been stayed are being challenged by the Sierra Club.

Two bills have been introduced in the U.S. Congress. House Bill 2250 and Senate Bill 1392 were drafted to trump the rulemaking and directs Lisa Jackson, EPA administer, to redo the NHSM rule. It asks for a categorical exemption for wood the included C&D wood materials which may include resonated wood, tire derived fuel and others. If this was passed, it makes this issue go away. Senator Collins from New Hampshire was a lead advocate in these bills. The House bill was heard the week of September 19, but the Senate bill has not yet been heard.

There are some upcoming meetings with congress and Bill will forward those dates to the board to see if anyone may be able to attend.

Coal Ash Update—This is an ongoing issue with the EPA and we will continue to monitor. There was some discussion on when this was going to be effective, Turley was to check and let the board know of the effective date of the rule implementation.

CORR Program—The guidelines are finished. There has been interviews with a potential candidate to be the administrator of the program. The candidate is JW Spear in Milwaukee, Wis. He has extensive experience in project management and the C&D field. We expect the program to be rolled out by 12/31/2011. The USGBC knows about the program. It was noted that Brad Guy indicated that LEED 2012 may add language that if a certified facility is used, it will add one point to the project.

The CMRA will lend seed money to the ICSR/CORR program and will receive 20% of all revenue taken in by the ICSR.

It was suggested that an update be added to the CMRA website to keep our members up to speed.

C&D Recycling Impact White Paper: There was discussion surrounding contracting with a firm that would summarize the economic and environmental impact from our industry. The benefits of jobs, environmental impacts, landfill abatement and economic capital expenditures should all be considered in this report. Turley will be asking for proposals from multiple firms to be reviewed.

Meeting was adjourned at 12:13 p.m. EST Motion by Adelman, Second by Haus.

 

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