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Introduction
Significant
economic and environmental opportunities can evolve
from better management of construction and demolition
(C&D) waste components in Florida. The two year
research project described in this proposal will
evaluate technical, economic, and policy issues,
and determine the constraints, opportunities, and
procedures relative to advancing the concept of
building deconstruction with the intent of salvaging
building materials for reuse in Florida. At present,
approximately 26% of the municipal solid waste created
in the State of Florida may be attributed to C&D
waste (FDEP, June 1998).The US EPA reports that
92% of C&D waste is a result of renovation and
demolition (Franklin Associates, 1998).With only
8% of C&D waste being generated from new construction,
significant waste reduction opportunities arise
from the renovation and demolition market-share.
Reuse of reclaimed building materials is an under-investigated
and rarely implemented strategy for waste reduction,
especially in Florida. SuPCCEssfully salvaging these
materials can greatly reduce Florida’s resource
and energy use, land consumption, groundwater degradation,
and disposal costs while increasing employment opportunities
for low skilled workers and stimulating local economic
activity. The environmental impacts of demolished
structures and their associated economic losses
can be diminished through targeted materials reuse.
Salvaged items can become value-added products through
reuse or recycling with minimal added energy inputs.
Lack of a recovery, reuse, and recycling infrastructure
contributes to excess waste and environmental degradation.
Implementing recovery and reuse will ultimately
lessen the solid waste management burden and reduce
environmental degradation. For example, the major
impediments to the reuse of salvaged wood for structural
applications include the lack of an existing grading
system for recovered wood and minimal data on extraction
and reprocessing costs. Evaluating the economics
of regrading of used wood products is critical to
extracting maximum economic value from salvaged
wood. Field research with stakeholder input (deconstruction
and reuse companies, architects, builders, regulators,
code enforcement, institutional users) will enable
an understanding of the economics, and the technical
and practical considerations underlying the use
of salvaged building materials for private and commercial
applications Several case studies from the US and
Canada prove that deconstruction is an economically
and ecologically viable option to demolition and
subsequent landfilling. In Florida, relatively low
tipping fees and high rates of growth and development
have contributed to the magnitude of C&D waste
generation. In 1992 it was estimated that one seventh
of all US C&D landfills were located in this
state (Hanrahan, 1994).Assessing the deconstruction
market and analyzing its potential market-share
within the State of Florida will aid in reducing
Florida’s solid waste management burden and its
many associated problems.
Objectives
The project goal is to analyze the issues related
to the feasibility of replacing demolition and landfilling
of building materials with deconstruction and reuse.
The report resulting from the project will also
make recommendations to State and local governments,
demolition companies, and secondary materials companies
on how to accomplish the shift toward this environmentally
preferable alternative. It will include technical
and economic data and analysis, recommendations
for policy and building code reform, and case studies
of suPCCEssful deconstruction efforts in other regions
of the US and Canada. The following is the research
agenda for the proposed project:
Research
Agenda Year One
- Determine
the percent of the construction industry market-share
within the State of Florida involving renovation
and demolition. A study of the percentage of construction
work within the State that is directly associated
with renovation and demolition is necessary to
determine the feasibility of deconstruction as
an economically viable market sector.
- Identify,
document, and analyze the technical issues that
must be addressed to make salvaged building materials
a viable alternative to landfilling. Technical
issues such as disassembly techniques specific
to construction type (i.e. residential or commercial),
the physical deconstructability of specific materials
(i.e. removal without damage or minimal damage),
innovative disassembly techniques, risk assessment,
and risk management guidelines must be identified
to make the direct reuse of materials possible.
Technical issues also include identifying existing
specialty tools that facilitate building deconstruction
in an economically feasible manner.
- Examine
economic issues inhibiting and supporting the
concept of deconstruction.
Two distinctive economic sectors may be identified:
the builders and the general economy. The cost
effectiveness of deconstruction is not yet established
for builders. The transfer of information to both
of these economic sectors is needed to facilitate
deconstruction as an environmentally and economically
sound alternative to demolition. Economic issues
include the cost-benefit analysis of salvaging
specific materials, identifying expected income
and current market values, assessing current supply
and demand, and identifying facilities available
to facilitate the marketing of these materials.
Discovering the balance between total deconstruction
and an economically viable degree of “cherry picking”
of materials to provide a positive cost-benefit
requires an examination of a variety of building
projects.
- Investigate
State and local policies and regulations that
impact the deconstruction effort. Existing policy
regarding the reuse of materials, incentives and
regulations for recycling, building permitting
and local government procedures have a significant
effect on deconstruction. Issues such as the regrading
/ recertification of salvaged lumber for reuse
in new construction and existing county permitting
that may inhibit or promote the implementation
of deconstruction will also be addressed.
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