Up to 38% of the waste stream in the H-GAC region is construction and demolition (C&D) waste. It is estimated that up to 90% of C&D waste can be diverted from the landfill through reuse or recycling.
Construction and Demolition Waste (C&D) Resources from HARC
The full reports and additional resources can be found at www.recyclecddebris.com
In an effort to assist the H-GAC region in addressing the C&D issue, the Houston Advanced Research Center (HARC) has performed a Residential C&D Waste Study and put together an online resource containing:
- Overview of C&D issues and best practices
- Recycling, reuse and deconstruction options
- Helpful planning, recycling and reuse hints for the construction site
- Listing of recyclers, salvagers and contractors in the H-GAC area for C&D materials
Construction Waste Handbook
This handbook exists as the result of a desire by the Houston-Galveston Area Council (H-GAC) to provide assistance to the area's residents for the purpose of addressing the Construction and Demolition (C&D) waste issues of the area. The Houston Advanced Research Center (HARC) was contracted to do the research and to produce the handbook. en Español
Worksheet Economics
This worksheet economic tool or calculator is intended as a tool for interested parties to determine for individual projects the economic considerations of recycling C&D waste. The tool is adapted from work done by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) for the EPA. HARC made some additions to the tool to make it functional for the H-GAC area. The tool provides a method of estimating C&D volume and weight. It also allows the user to estimate the costs and benefits of C&D waste recycling. en Español
Residential C&D Waste Study
A detailed description of the waste stream audit performed by HARC. Specifically, it is the waste stream audit performed by HARC in cooperation with a local builder examined the waste produced during the construction of two very similar custom homes. During construction of House 1, HARC measured the amount of C&D waste produced. The construction of House 1 produced 85,242 pounds of waste, which was disposed of in the landfill. During the construction of House 2, HARC and the builder employed waste reduction and re-use methods. House 2 produced 87,556 pounds of waste, but 72,060 pounds were diverted from the landfill through on-site grinding and beneficial reuse of materials. This represents an 82.3% reduction.
Education Program
This section contains the information data sheet of procedures and local resources for the construction trades involved in the residential C&D process.
C&D Links
This is a compilation of public, private and not-for-profit websites that contain important information on C&D. The presentation of the sites is by state generally unless a source was deemed to be national in its scope.
Guides
This PDF collection of guidebooks is intended to assist anyone interested in creating a program, any builder trying to develop a program, or any policy personnel trying to consider the practical application implications of policy creation.
Case Studies
The need to demonstrate that others have experience in this arena and to avoid the age old problem of recreating the wheel is best served through case study presentations. There are four divisions of these cases. General C&D, International, National and Regional. This collection of case studies represents the seminal work in the C&D field that exists in the public domain. The segregation of the cases provides and easy index to the tremendous number of works in the field of study.
The full reports and additional resources can be found at http://www.recyclecddebris.com/