C

1
CD does not stand for Concrete and DirtThe
truth behind the diversion in the City of Los
AngelesCRRA CARBONOPOLYAugust 4th, San
Francisco, CA

• Richard A. Ludt
• Waste Management Administrator
• Interior Removal Specialist, Inc.
• LEED AP

2
Interior Removal Specialist, Inc.

• Interior demolition contractor since 1994
• Began hauling own debris in 1998
• Received California State certification as CD
  Processor in 2003
• Received Full Solid Waste Permit in February 2008
• Demolished over 11,000,000 square feet of
  commercial interior space in 2006
• Produced 31,942.76 tons of debris
• Recycled 23,318.2 tons (73)
• Had to look at diversion differently due to waste
  stream

3
Award winning diversion brings interesting
questions

• GEELA in 2006
• SWANA Gold and Silver in 2006
• WRAP of the Year in 2006
• CRRA Gold in 2006
• ISWA Innovation Award in 2007
• Why did we win?
• What are we doing differently?

4
Commercial Interior demolition vs. New
Construction demolition

• Construction and demolition debris can and should
  be broken down to two or three separate waste
  streams
• Full building demolition creates a completely
  different waste stream than tenant improvement
  or CI debris
• CI Debris is lighter and harder to separate than
  full building demolition debris
• Road and Bridge work could be a category in
  itself, consisting of strictly concrete, asphalt,
  and metals

5
Hard vs. Soft demolition

• Full building demolition debris

• Commercial Interior demolition debris

6
Largest Weight Factors

• New Construction Demolition

• Commercial Interior Demolition

• Most weight comes from concrete, steel, wood,
  dirt
• Traditional demolition waste stream
• Easily diverted

• Most weight comes from gypsum wallboard, metal,
  plastic laminate cabinetry, particle board, and
  carpet
• Many non-traditional diversion items
• Fewer markets

7
Heaviest materials, hard vs. soft demolition

• Hard demo

• Soft demo

8
Difficulties in diversion in CI projects

• Donation or sale of usable materials and
  furniture difficult if material is not removed
  before demolition, storage for these materials
  can be problematic
• Ceiling tile recycling difficult if material is
  not saved on jobsite at time of demolition
• Carpet recycling is expensive in Southern
  California due to cost and distance to recyclers
• Plastic laminate cabinets and particle board
  furniture is not compostable or mulchable.

9
Donation possibilities
10
Facility Averages

• The accepted form of computing a diversion rate
  is to use a facility average
• Facility Average is computed as total tons
  inbound minus tons sent to landfill equals
  diversion rate
• Facilities do not track hard vs. soft demolition
  loads
• Facilities often issue receipts that say Mixed
  CD Debris, recycled -- without breaking down
  materials
• Without material breakdown, no real accounting
  can be achieved

11
Los Angeles Averages

• City of Los Angeles produced over 800,000 tons of
  CD debris in 2006
• Metals, wood, inerts, and cardboard accounted for
  nearly 33 of all incoming materials
• Approximately 35 of all incoming debris was
  sent to landfill
• This only leaves 32 of other materials to be
  accounted for

12
Commercial Interior Demolition recycled material
percentages

• Drywall- 25.82
• Metals- 14.44
• Wood- 12.69 (Only 2 of this material is
  dimensional lumber, the remaining 98 is particle
  board and plastic laminate cabinetry,
  traditionally not captured by CD facilities)
• Concrete- 8.57
• Carpet- 6.96
• Ceiling Tile- 3.82
• Cardboard- 1.24
• Total- 73.81
• By weight, based on tonnage from 2006, Interior
  Removal Specialist, Inc. yard

13
Hard to recycle materials
14
Actual diversion at traditional facilities

• Metal, wood, inerts and cardboard account for
  about 26.25 of CI demolition loads by weight
• Inerts, wood, and metals account for 75 to 90
  of full building demolition loads by weight
• Some CD Facilities recycle the drywall and
  carpet that come into the facilities in clean
  source separated loads
• Mixed CI loads at many facilities are only sorted
  for the metals, cardboard, and whatever
  dimensional lumber they can recover, meaning that
  mixed CI loads are generally recycled at a rate
  of far less than 50, yet are given the Facility
  Average diversion rate

15
Commonly recycled materials
16
What are we really burying? The Toxic 20

• When inerts are taken out of the waste stream,
  only the organic, toxic and potentially toxic are
  left
• When buried in large quantities gypsum wallboard
  produces greenhouse gasses
• Particle board contains adhesives and chemicals
  that contribute to landfill leachate
• Carpet and plastics may stay in landfills for
  centuries to come
• Organics create methane gas, 23 times more
  harmful than Carbon Dioxide

17
How did this come to be?

• Large waste haulers approached CD as a waste
  stream, not a diversion opportunity
• When diversion became mandatory, processors
  simply went after the low hanging fruit
• Inerts were the easiest and most plentiful
  materials by weight
• Most people not in the waste industry are not
  familiar with the actual mechanics of CD
  diversion and do not understand the failure of
  facility averages in tracking actual diversion
  for CI projects

18
What do we do?

• Educate ourselves
• Source separate to the greatest extent possible
• Salvage as much as possible for future sale or
  donation
• Find out where your hauler will be taking the
  debris
• Investigate what that facility is actually taking
  out of the waste stream
• Try to find your own outlets for those materials
  that are not being addressed

19
Thank you.

• Richard A. Ludt
• Waste Management Administrator
• LEED AP
• Interior Removal Specialist, Inc.
• richard_at_irsdemo.com