1998 Trash Cutter Award Program Case Studies

City of Los Angeles: Construction and Demolition Debris Management

• Program Description
• Program Summary
• Costs
• Benefits
• Contact

Program Description

To encourage the recycling and reuse of construction and demolition debris, the City of Los Angeles' Integrated Solid Waste Management Office developed the Building Industry Recycling Tool Kit. The Tool Kit helps building industry professionals develop programs to recycle construction, demolition, and landscaping materials. The kit also promotes the use of recycled-content building products and space allocation of recycling at local projects. During the recent construction of the LAPD emergency Vehicles Operations Center, the contractor used the Tool Kit to recycle more than 13,000 tons of inert materials. The contractor also used the kit to find a facility that could recycle mixed loads of construction and demolition debris from the project.

Program Summary

The Tool Kit includes recently updated versions of the Construction and Demolition Waste Recycling Guide, Wood You Recycle? Guide, A Resource Guide to Recycled-Content Construction Products, Solid Resources Management Specifications, and other materials useful to the building industry. These resources are aimed at helping architects, construction specifiers, builders, and local governments divert CDL materials from landfills, in conjunction with AB 939 and California Integrated Waste Management Act. Local C&D recycling processors and manufacturers of recycled-content products cooperated with ISWMO in developing the guides included in the kit.

Costs

The program is cost-effective, the tipping fees for concrete and asphalt at Class III landfills, for example, currently average $35.00 per ton. Tipping fees at concrete and asphalt recycling facilities can be as low as $5.00 per ton. Companies also may be able to save money through avoided disposal costs and receive revenues from the sale of pre-sorted materials, such as scrap metal and cardboard.

Benefits

One of the key features of the Building Industry Recycling Tool Kit is the newly updated Resource Guide to Recycled-Content Construction Products. Because of the importance of developing markets for recycled materials, ISWMO has updated this resource with over 50 pages of listings of building products with recycled content. The guide has an extensive introductory section and a reference section of other publications.  It has been very well received by the building industry throughout Southern California and elsewhere.

Other localities, such as the City of Santa Monica, City of Signal Hill, and Alameda County have adopted materials in the Tool Kit, basing their own guides on the ISWMO format and acknowledging the City of Los Angeles.

The city has seen that emphasizing recycling issues tends to stimulate efforts to implement energy efficiency, low toxicity, and other aspects of sustainable design on the same projects.

Having several options for different types of debris motivates contractors to successfully employ a global waste reduction effort on their projects.

For Further Information Contact:

City of LA/ISWMO
433 S. Spring St. 5th Floor
Los Angeles, CA  90013
(213) 847-4321