Demolition, The “Green” Guide

The demolition industry has been dedicated to green initiatives long before the Green Building Council and like-minded organizations evolved. Champion Environmental Services, Inc. is regarded as an industry pioneer with regard to our approach in recycling products out of our demolition projects.

Our commitment to recycling has translated into being awarded the “Big Diverter” by WasteCap Wisconsin for the highest recycling rate on a demolition project. This project involved the demolition of a 440,000 square foot building which yielded a recycling rate of a little over 97% by volume and 99% weight; 39,144 tons of debris was diverted from landfills through our efforts. Champion Environmental Services,Inc. is very proud of these results and continually works to improve such baseline efficiencies.

Key factors to successful recycling include project planning, on site project management, and an experienced team of operators and laborers who understand the scope of work.

The videos at the end of this entry illustrate the proper segregation of material during demolition; on site material management must involve continual spot review by project managers who will make appropriate adjustments to the implementation plan. One of the consistent remarks we get from people who view our demolition projects is that they cannot believe how “clean” we keep our sites during demolition.

Our approach to Recycling:

Each job is unique - there is no one stop/blanket approach; each individual project has inherent advantages and disadvantages - which are mostly contingent on two key factors: geography, essentially where the job site is located and amount of clean recyclable material that is available.

Geographic local is very important as we find large metropolitan areas such as the Chicago, Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, and Cleveland markets offer many local vendors who support and provide end use places for raw material, whereas the further we mobilize into isolated areas – the issue is one of cost – for us to load and transport say wood beams to our Racine Wisconsin yard from job in Minnesota for resale versus the opportunity to work with someone near our job site who deals in antique woods and has use is a factor will influence recycling success.

Isolated locations can be cost prohibitive when labor costs and transportation are factored in. Areas which provide close supportive reclamation opportunities are favorable circumstances for increasing target objectives. The good news is we are seeing vendors evolve, grow, and expand their markets to provide sound resources for items such as clean drywall or the strong move toward roofing shingles operations - such opportunities directly impact our success and creates greater probability to achieve sound results. Another factor is how much clean material - free of asbestos, lead, or other hazards - is available to recycle.

Older building/homes and especially industrial sites often contain a host of environmental hazards which must be addressed. This is something we take into consideration on any initial site visit/during client consultation and upon review of the environmental consultants’ survey.

The nature of that clean recyclable product and size of the structure is also a relevant point of assertion: the more concrete, steel, antique brick in a large structure the greater opportunity for positive reults. One specific example I would cite involves concrete; for our company to mobilize a concrete crusher and provide clean fill from concrete slabs and foundation for use on new construction following demolition is more cost-effective when numbers reach 2,000 tons of available material to work with. Our fleet of crushers and screens allows us the flexibility to create any sized aggregate to meet the standards for new construction infill.

Bottom Line of advantages and disadvantages:

The bottom line in terms of how feasible it is to recycle and reuse material is not only contingent on some of the factors I just outlined but driven by what the clients’ needs are and how cost effective the choices before us translate. While the majority of people who choose our company to provide demolition services like our focused green initiatives, we will from time to time get a client who wants the project facilitated inane manner – in other words, they want the building gone and don’t care how we do it or where the material winds up. We try to guide clients who operate under this premise that we can provide a more cost-effective solution through reuse and recycling while providing options.

The project also must make fiscal sense – we are a business and must operate within certain margins – that being said – our innovative practices 90% of the time inhibit the potential financial downside from being a factor. Because we offer 24/7 response for emergency demolition situations – given a certain set of circumstances can often mean just getting a building down in favor of creating a safe environment - these cases often result in a different mindset – alleviate the immediate danger, then assess what you have.

Key Factors To Our Success:

There are many factors which contribute to our success which includes the development of relationships with vendors who provide reuse opportunities; we have a a database that is geographically broken down to maximize/capitalize on such prospects.

We are continually seeking new vendor relationships and connect with them early on even if no job in currently taking place in that area. A proactive approach allows for seamless execution when an opportunity presents itself.

Innovation – we are always seeking news ways to enhance what we do; by maintaining an eye on industry innovations and supportive industry advances allows Champion to refine and improve our commitment to being stewards of the environment in a business that is usually viewed as anything but friendly to the environment.

I hope you enjoy these videos. Credit for the video goes to the following person on You Tube who posted these in April of 2008 - http://www.youtube.com/user/jdrews3