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Success Stories
Building Savings:
Strategies for Waste Reduction of Construction and Demolition Debris from
Buildings (PDF) (20 pp, 875K, About PDF) 
EPA 530-F-00-001; June 2000
This document profiles communities in Connecticut, Oregon, New York, Wisconsin,
Texas, and California that are "record-setters" in C&D materials
reduction and recovery. The publication was produced by the Institute
for Local Self-reliance (ILSR), a nonprofit organization, with funding
from EPA.
EPA's GreenScapes Web site offers a success story about the Aspen Skiing Company in Aspen, Colorado that has decided to reuse building materials and create compost out of the remaining materials instead of throwing them away. The company kept 84 percent of the materials from old buildings out of the local landfill and allowed the materials to have a second life in new buildings and compost.
Looney
Bins, Inc. with locations in both the City of Los Angeles and Los Angeles County,
found a market niche by contracting with local Hollywood movie studios
to deconstruct movie lots containing wood, cardboard, metal, plastic,
and other salvageable items. The company then sells and/or donates the
recovered materials. Its new site, Downtown Diversion, is capable of processing
all types of C&D materials, including asphalt, brick, wood, drywall,
cardboard, concrete, carpet, scrap metal, roofing shingles, and other
similar materials. Eighty percent of what is brought in will be diverted
from landfill disposal. Material diversion is expected to reach 50,000
tons of C&D annually. With the increase in material intake and processing,
the company expects to realize some economies of scale.
Selfridge
Air National Guard Base (SANGB) (PDF)(1 pg, 9K, About PDF) is a joint-service military facility located approximately 20 miles northeast
of Detroit, Michigan. As part of their recent base renovation plan, SANGB
contracted DEMEX, Inc., to demolish 22 buildings located throughout the
base. In total, approximately 74 percent of the demolition debris was
recycled or reused, and was diverted from disposal in the landfill. These
reuse and recycling practices also resulted in a contract bid price that
was 25 percent below competing estimates, demonstrating significant cost
savings to the government.
