I have written a bit about waste management before, primarily in reference to the demolition of the existing 1004 Central. Demo was a bummer in this regard, to say the least. The original house was ridden with lead and asbestos, making any alternative to the landfill difficult, so that’s where the bulk of the original house ended up.

Construction of the new home is a whole different ball game. New construction means [mostly] clean, untreated wood and other materials, the scraps from which can be easily recycled.

After doing some research and consulting waste-wise folks at the City, we came to the conclusion that we should do the separation and/or salvage of our construction and demolition (C&D) waste on site. As discussed on the Demolition page, a load of obvious C&D debris that ends up at the Thurston County Waste and Recovery Center may be diverted to an area where it can be sorted into recyclable and non-recyclable material. If the C&D area is busy or closed, however, the truck is sent to the landfill area. Point being, there is often no assurance that the C&D waste generated by your project will be recycled when possible, even though there is a basic structure in place to do so.

Sorting and managing waste on site has not been difficult, in our experience. For one, the trades (and thus materials) tend to come in phases – concrete, framing, roofing, drywall, etc. This makes it pretty darn easy to keep like materials grouped together for sending to the appropriate recycler. I could see this being a much greater challenge with demolition because you are disassembling what is essentially a sandwich of mixed materials. Taking them fully apart and separating them into the appropriate piles could be painstaking. In this case, a recycler like Recovery 1 might be a good option for something like this – they will take mixed C&D debris provided it is free of lead and asbestos.

On To The Plan

Our goal is to achieve as close to zero waste as possible during construction. We will track the waste that is diverted and tally it at the end of the project.

The general plan is as follows:

Organics

The bulk of the construction waste qualifies as organics. This goes into a 30 yard drop box from the City of Olympia. For drop boxes with organics (i.e. recyclable material) the City waives both the delivery fee and the daily rental fee. You pay only the hauling and the dump fee. Additionally, the dump fee is lower for organics than for landfilled material. The material from this drop box will end up at Silver Springs Organics, along with the rest of the City’s yard and food waste.

• Applicable items: wood, lumber, OSB, plywood, drywall, pallets, land clearing debris, cardboard, food waste. All material must be clean, unpainted, untreated; metal hangers or nails are okay.
• Vendor: City of Olympia Waste Resources
• Container: 30 yard drop box, City hauls

Metal

We will have a small amount of scrap metal which can be easily taken to the City’s Saturday drop-off site, which now accepts non-appliance clean scrap metal.

• Applicable items: scrap metal
• Vendor: City of Olympia Saturday drop-off site
• Container: none (small amount, left in a pile), self-haul

Plastic

Some plastic construction waste can be recycled at Recovery 1. Other plastic, such as the plastic wrap that many building materials come encased in, does not currently have a recycling destination.

• Applicable items: LDPE, HDPE, PVC plastics
• Vendor: Recovery 1
• Container: using a City of Olympia 96 gallon recycle cart, self-haul

Concrete/Masonry

We may not have much, if any, concrete waste (also included in this category are asphalt shingles, window glass, bricks and other masonry items). Should we encounter any we’ll take it to Concrete Recyclers (affiliated with Black Lake Landscaping Supply).

• Applicable items: concrete
• Vendor: Concrete Recyclers
• Container: none (small amount, left in a pile), self-haul

Landfill

There are a few items that do not have a home at a recycler, including treated wood (i.e. pressure treat), insulation and plastic wrap. These items will go into a dumpster from the City of Olympia, billed at the regular rate for landfilled material.

• Applicable items: insulation, treated wood, hazardous waste, plastic wrap
• Vendor: City of Olympia Waste Resources
• Container: 3 yard drop box, City hauls

Useable Building Materials

Much of the construction waste will be small chunks, but there will be some larger items that can be salvaged for re-use. For example, studs over 4 feet long can go to the Habitat ReStore – on their web site they have a list of what they do and don’t accept.

• Applicable items: left over building materials that can be used or re0used
• Vendor: South Puget Sound Habitat for Humanity
• Container: none, self-haul

How It’s Working

Thus far the waste management plan is working quite well. We’re into framing and the wood – treated or untreated – seems to be ending up in the right place (dumpster or organics, respectively). To be honest, the biggest “issue” we have had is recyclable plastic bottles, tin cans and food waste from the sub-contractors ending up in the dumpster – we  set a 96 gallon recycle cart from the City right next to the garbage dumpster to encourage proper disposal of the plastic bottles and tin cans.

All dumpsters and carts are clearly signed on multiple sides. Each container has at least one sign entitled “What Goes Here,” with verbiage identifying the items to go into that container.

3 yard drop box for garbage, alongside 30 yard drop box for organics

How We Did

Stay tuned for an update at the end of the project – we will tally the amount of waste that was diverted from the landfill.