Push, pull or get out of the way —

Creating Markets for CRD Materials

Construction, renovation & demolition (CRD) wastes are heavy, bulky and can fill up landfills at an alarming rate. Many of the components of CRD have reuse or recycling potential, if they are handled effectively.

Few Saskatchewan markets exist for CRD materials. How can we change that? Finding a market for recycled materials isn’t easy. Municipalities can try to push market development by banning materials from disposal at landfills, or by applying surcharges. Saskatoon does the latter with asphalt shingles. Their ’regular’ tipping fees are $35/tonne and shingles are charged $44/tonne. This generates a potential market opportunity for someone with an alternate use for shingles as they could charge a tipping fee to accept shingles (anything less than $44/tonne), and all the shingles would flow their way.

Banning materials from landfill can increase the supply of recyclable materials. It’s not reasonable to ban materials from landfill for which no alternative exists, but bans can hasten market development for some items. The Vancouver drywall recycling success story, for example, was greatly assisted by a landfill ban on drywall materials. With a ban in place, companies wanting to reprocess materials can charge a tipping fee to accept the material. This helps the businesses stay more viable, since the values of recycled materials are often low, especially with CRD materials, where virgin sources are still relatively cheap.

Municipalities can also establish designated areas for CRD materials, and many have. This allows for sorting so that material streams don’t get all mixed together and lose their value. Sorting can be ‘pushed’ by differential tipping fees for sorted vs. unsorted loads. Saskatoon’s waste bylaw allows for double tipping fees for loads with more than 10 percent recyclable materials. This type of provision could be applied to CRD materials. A slightly different approach might be to have a reduced tipping fee for CRD materials deposited correctly in designated areas. Sorted materials have more value and will be more readily used than those that are not, part of the “sort it, stack it, and they will steal it” philosophy.

Municipalities can also push CRD markets by specifying that construction or demolition projects achieve a recycling target. San Diego has an ordinance that requires contractors to pay a deposit for recycling when they receive their project permits. After demonstrating recovery, the money is returned based on how much material was diverted from the project. Other jurisdictions require companies to fill waste reduction plans before permits are issued.

CRD markets can also be pulled by increasing the demand for CRD materials. The LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design — see www.usgbc.org) program is being adopted by many agencies. LEED tries, among other things, to increase demand for recycled materials in construction projects.

Sask. Property Management is working on a policy that would see all their new construction and major renovations adopt a LEED standard unless proven non-economical. This would require the use of materials with recycled content, recyclable materials and a minimum 75% diversion from landfill.

The “holy grail” of recycling and green buildings is the Mountain Equipment Co-op (MEC) building in Winnipeg. MEC deconstructed two buildings on the site and renovated a third, resulting in 97% recycled materials being used in the finished building.

We need a concerted effort to push supply of CRD materials, to demand recycled content in new buildings and to create specifications that allow the use of recycled materials in new products and projects.

(Source: March 2006 WasteWatch])

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