Demolition Debris Recycling

Reducing waste can save money, reduce air, soil, and water pollution, and conserve energy and resources. Demolition companies play a critical role in recycling, reducing, or reusing construction and demolition waste. In fact, California is a leader in promoting environmentally-friendly regulations pertaining to the C&D industries.

Reuse and Recycling

Recycling and reuse of C&D materials is a key component of the broader practice called green or sustainable building construction. The efficient use of resources is a primary objective of green building construction. This means reusing, reducing, and recycling most of the materials that remain after a demolition, construction, or renovation project. These practices can include using aggregates reclaimed from crushed concrete, salvaging lumber from a project, or grinding drywall scraps to use as a soil amendment.

At the end of a building’s useful life, the demolition will produce large quantities of materials to reuse or recycle, mainly concrete, wood, drywall, and other types of masonry. Instead of demolishing a building, it can be deconstructed. This is the orderly dismantling of building components for recycling or reuse. In contrast to a demolition in which the building is knocked down and material hauled to a landfill, a deconstruction carefully takes apart portions of a building or removes contents with the purpose of reuse.  This can be removing cabinetry, windows, fixtures, or even manually taking apart the framework.

Demolition professionals can perform other environmentally sound projects.

Clean Up 

Most new construction, demolition, and frequent disaster response efforts start with removing hazardous materials. Experienced demolition experts use advanced technology to remove materials such as asbestos, heavy metals, industrial residues, or radioactive waste. Whether they are renovating a century-old building, restoring a brownfield, or decommissioning a power plant, the demolition crew knows how to contain and remove hazardous materials. During natural disasters, demolition crews are many times right behind the first responders.

Restoring Brownfield Sites

Brownfields are sites that have been contaminated with hazardous materials. These can be old dry-cleaning plants, unused gas stations, or closed-down industrial sites. Brownfields are not as hazardous as “Superfund Sites,” such as the Love Canal. Restoring a brownfield is the type of land renewal that demolition crews can excel at, and the work can stoke economic development while making neighborhoods more livable with a cleaner environment. Only trained demolition professionals can do this work, and they have the equipment, permits, and experience to do it right.

Recycling

The demolition industry embraced recycling and reusing materials long before it became the popular green movement. Anytime a structure is demolished, materials can be reused in new projects. Most demolition projects produce a large quantity of scrap metal, bricks, aggregates, and other resources. In the United States, two-thirds of steel production comes from scrap metal. In addition, a demolition can make way for many new neighborhood improvement projects such as housing, parks, or community centers.

SV Demolition continually seeks new ways to conserve and renew the environment through its demolition projects. To learn more about how we can assist with your next major construction project, contact us today at 408.218.0993.