Prince Frederick Hall
Campus departments will be required to recycle heaps of construction and demolition waste from campus projects starting in early winter 2013.
Although Facilities Management began recycling some waste material from construction projects in June in conjunction with an initiative spearheaded by the Office of Sustainability, it will be required to recycle as much waste as possible in 2013, said Scott Lupin, Office of Sustainability director. Before the expansion of the project, which aims to bring the university closer to reaching its goal of carbon neutrality by 2050, officials will determine on a project-to-project basis whether to recycle or dispose of construction waste products, such as wood, steel, aluminum, concrete and sheetrock.
“This is a massive project with the potential of putting us on a stable path towards achieving our carbon neutrality goals,” Lupin said.
Officials estimated campus construction will generate about 300 to 800 tons of recyclable waste a year, potentially increasing the university’s low waste diversion rate by anywhere from 3 to 7 percent and bringing it closer to next year’s 75-percent goal. The current rate stands at 64 percent, up just 1 percent from last year.
Facilities Management workers will collect construction and demolition waste materials and transport them to different processors — some of which include ACE Recycling, PG Scrap and Ameriwaste — depending on the material type. This process would decrease the need for on-call contractors who previously disposed of waste at permitted sanitary landfills, said Bill Guididas, Building and Landscape Services’ recycling coordinator.
The money to haul and dispose of the waste will come from individual project budgets, according to Lupin, although the cost breakdown was not provided. However, officials said the cost of recycling construction waste could be less than the cost of disposing it.
“We anticipate that the overall cost to the university will be lower [than before] because the work is being performed in-house,” Lupin said.
Other recycling initiatives have sprung up across the campus in the last year — composting debuted in Stamp Student Union in the fall — and this initiative has been in the works since the early part of the year, when the Office of Sustainability teamed up with Facilities Management’s campus projects and buildings and landscape services departments to discuss its feasibility.
Facilities Management will continue to provide the material transportation service for future expansion projects, Lupin said. However, finding space at construction project locations for roll-off waste containers — the containers construction workers fill with waste and which are then transported to be recycled — will be a challenge in already tight areas, Lupin said.
Junior history and Spanish major Samantha Suplee said she was happy to see the university taking steps toward more sustainable construction practices.
“Recycling is something beneficial, and I’m glad the university has adopted this policy in full form,” she said.
