Municipal Options for Construction and Demolition Waste

Because CRD (construction, renovation and demolition) waste tends to be relatively dry and inert, it can be piled separately from 'regular' waste. Many communities have a concrete/rubble designated area at their landfill. Once the pile is large enough, the community hires a crusher to reduce the pile to a material suitable for fill and road base.

Regina's landfill has a designated area for clean rubble with no tipping fee. They collect 90,000-100,000 tonnes every year, an estimated 21 percent of their total waste stream. The materials are periodically crushed and used to replace gravel as road base and often are a cheaper solution as well.

The City of Saskatoon charges for rubble at their landfill, but allows it to be dropped off at the public works department's rubble dumps for free. Saskatoon's landfill mainly receives the hard-to-recycle CRD materials—shingles, wood, concrete with rebar, etc. They are investigating the possibility of using these types of materials to establish a reclamation site in or around the city. Saskatoon is also trying to establish a used building materials depot at the landfill in cooperation with Habitat for Humanity.

Municipalities commonly reprocess road asphalt. Moose Jaw's asphalt goes to a local paving company who remixes it into new asphalt and gives half of it back to the City. Saskatoon uses its old asphalt as a surfacing material for alleys and other low traffic areas.

Large quantities of CRD waste can be diverted from landfill by separating it by type. Municipalities with designated areas at their landfills can attest to this, especially if there is a tipping fee for unsorted loads. Once the material is sorted, it regains its usefulness and will again be in demand. As SWRC member Ed Wilson says, "Sort it, stack it, and they will steal it!" It's still waste diversion.

(Source: March 2001 WasteWatch)

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