Sustainable Building....... Waste Reduction

Of the 20,000 landfills located within the United States, more than 15,000 have reached
capacity and closed.9 Many more are following this pattern each year. Construction-related
waste constitutes more than 25 percent of landfill content and equals total municipal
garbage waste generated in the United States.1 0 As a result of this volume of waste, an
increasing number of landfills will not permit, or are charging extra for, the dumping of
construction-related waste. In response, recycling of such debris is increasing at the job
site. Materials such as gypsum, glass, carpet, aluminum, steel, brick, and disassembled
building components can be reused, or, if that is not feasible, recycled.

In addition to construction-waste recycling, the building industry is beginning to
achieve significant waste reductions through more building reuse and adaptation, as
opposed to demolition. In past decades, the trend has been to raze a building at the end
of its first life (assumed to be the “useful” life) and replace it with a new building. With
ingenuity, older structures can be successfully renovated into cost-effective and efficient
“new” structures. Adaptive reuse of older structures can result in financial savings to
both sellers and purchasers. One example is the National Audubon Society headquarters
building in New York, the product of a 1993 project that recycled a 100-year-old eight story
building. Conservation of the building’s shell and floors saved approximately 300
tons of steel, 9,000 tons of masonry, and 560 tons of concrete. Audubon estimates a savings
of approximately $8 million associated with restoration instead of demolition and
new construction