Developing Your Construction Waste Management & Recycling Plan Will Save Thousands
Developing Your Construction Waste Management & Recycling Plan Will Save Thousands
The construction industry produces massive amounts of waste every year resulting in profit losses and negative environmental impacts. By nature, construction is not an eco-friendly activity. Thankfully, implementing a construction and demolition waste management plan can help reduce waste in landfills efficiently and cost-effectively. This starts with recovering, reusing and recycling materials on your construction site.
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So, why is recycling so important?
Environment
As previously mentioned, there are severe environmental and cost impacts associated with the construction process. Recycling not only minimizes toxic build-up from construction but helps to reduce the amount of materials in our landfills as well. This reduces greenhouse gas emissions and conserves landfill space.
Profits
In addition to the environmental impacts, reusing materials saves money by cutting production, energy, and transportation costs. When you recycle, you are buying fewer new materials which increase profits. Another way to maximize profits is through the reselling of your construction waste. The demand for recycled waste continues to grow so utilize this as a new income source!
Public Image
As our world becomes more and more environmentally conscious, it is essential that construction companies show their devotion to the environment as well. Recycling is no longer a choice, but a must! If you want to impress your clients, you need to show your environmental efforts.
As you can see, recycling not only leads to a happy environment but a happy wallet and a happy customer as well!
Now that you understand the benefits, it’s time to get started. The first step in utilizing these benefits is to develop a waste management plan. To do this, you need to know what kinds of construction debris you can recycle.
Some of the most common recyclable materials on the construction site include:
Cardboard
Paper
Plastics
Metals
Wood
Rock
Dirt
Sand
Concrete
Roofing
Drywall
Glass & Windows
Now that you know the most common recyclable materials, you may be wondering how exactly you can recover, reuse, and recycle them. Many of these recyclable items can actually be converted into new resources for your construction company which means maximum value retention!
Some of the most common conversions that can be made include:
Turning wood, trees, and brush into mulch or biomass fuel
Turning cardboard, plastics, paper, etc. into new goods
Turning concrete into base course for building driveways
Melting metal and reforming it into a new metal product
Using cardboard and paper for pulping
Although construction may not be eco-friendly by nature, that can be changed with a little effort. With both environmental and monetary benefits, there’s no time to wait! Start developing your waste management and recycling plan today. The environment and your wallet will thank you.
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