The LEED credit for Construction Waste Management, or MRc2, and the two points associated with it, has been highly sought after by project teams since the LEED rating system first began. The U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) intent for the credit has always been to encourage diversion of construction and demolition debris from disposal in landfills and incineration facilities. By diverting these materials, recyclable recovered resources are redirected back to the manufacturing process and reusable materials are redirected to appropriate sites. During this period, landfill capacity was readily available, disposal fees were relatively low, and recycling construction and demolition waste was, or could be, an economic burden to the contractors working on-site.
Waste management plans required effort on the part of the contractor in terms of the time it took to create a construction and demolition waste management plan and the field labor needed to implement the plan. Many of the disposal companies were not set up to recycle construction and demolition debris. There were very few firms that collected co-mingled debris, and many of the materials common to the construction or demolition activities were not recyclable at that time. Ask almost anybody that worked on an early LEED certified project, and they will tell stories about the difficulties they encountered when trying to recycle construction and demolition materials.
I can recall the first LEED project I worked on. The disposal firm we were working with was not equipped to collect co-mingled debris. In instances where all types of debris can be collected in the same container, the disposal firm typically takes the containers to a facility where the material can be sorted to see what can be recycled and what must be sent to the landfill. But, since the disposal company would not accept co-mingled material in our situation, the site was serviced with multiple containers. It was the responsibility of site management to assure that only similar types of material were deposited in the corresponding containers. We had a container for metal, clean wood, masonry and concrete rubble, drywall, glass and general debris. Each container was designated for a certain type of waste, and each person working on a cleanup crew was responsible for depositing the appropriate material in the correct container.
Unfortunately, the concept of segregating waste from a construction site was very new, and there was a time when laborers had to be sent out to monitor and pick through disposal boxes to make sure that there was no material that shouldn’t be there. While it was not a great use of field labor, the LEED credit points associated with this credit were important to the project, so these activities were considered to be part of the LEED learning curve every contractor goes through.
The newest version of the LEED rating system–LEED v4–has divided the construction and demolition waste management into two parts. The first is a prerequisite for creating a construction waste management plan, while the second part provides voluntary points for implementing the plan and diverting construction and demolition debris from the landfill. A construction waste management plan is not new. The LEED credits in older versions of LEED required a plan to be put in place, but only for projects that were attempting to achieve one or both of the credit points associated with recycling construction and demolition debris. Now this is a requirement. At a minimum, the plan must identify the types of debris that will be generated during a project.
Once project team members have a general idea about the type and the amount of debris they will be generating, then they can establish diversion goals for the project. These goals often mirror the threshold values within the LEED rating system. Other times, these goals may go beyond the LEED-mandated thresholds for total amounts being diverted. The goals could also include specifics on how to handle recyclable/reusable debris when there is no local firm that has the capacity for recycling the material. After the goals have been established, the plan must be implemented, following the protocols that were included in the overall plan.
Fortunately, in today’s market, the availability of recycling facilities has become more abundant and the amount of material that can be recycled has increased. These positive trends, however, do not help to overcome the habits of construction workers. This is why it is important to perform training for the field labor working on the project, as these are the people who can make or break the construction waste management plan. Communication to the field labor workers via educational activities, such as toolbox talks, on the project site can help inform them that a Construction Waste Management Plan exists and explain why the team must make an effort to divert materials from the landfill, who is hauling this debris and how the debris should be handled before it leaves the project site. The labor personnel should also know how their efforts contribute to the overall success of the project and how their contributions directly affect the success of the project’s LEED effort.
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Thomas Taylor, a 30-year veteran of the construction industry and noted expert on sustainability, is a principal and co-founder of St. Louis-based Vertegy LLC. His book, “Guide to LEED 2009: Estimating and Preconstruction Strategies,” provides step-by-step information about the LEED 2009 for New Construction process. To learn more about Vertegy or Taylor, visit
www.vertegyconsultants.com.