Benefits

  • Saves money - lower disposal fees, less need to purchase new materials
  • Conserves natural resources
  • Slows the rate at which landfills reach capacity
  • Reduces methane emissions created when landfilled materials break down

Construction Debris Management Plan

In California, the State Building Code (CalGREEN) and local ordinances require contractors to submit a Construction Debris Management Plan to show that at least 65% of materials are diverted from landfill. This requires contractors to establish on-site infrastructure, practices, and policies for sorting material that can be diverted for either re-use or recycling.

Local Governments enforce CalGREEN requirements, and some have additional local C&D requirements. See this document for C&D requirements and contacts in your Alameda County Jurisdiction:

  • C&D Requirements & Contacts in Alameda County Jurisdictions
  • Sample Construction Debris Management Plan

Many local jurisdictions in Alameda County utilize a web-based tool called Green Halo that supports contractors to track the diversion of materials and find building material reuse and recycling facilities. Electronic tracking can save them time and money by identifying materials that can be recycled, locating the nearest recycling facilities, following recycling progress in real time, gathering comprehensive statistics, and creating reports regarding waste generation and recycling for project, clients, company, government, as well as for green rating systems.

Locate C&D Facilities

In addition to locating recycling and reuse facilities in Green Halo, Contractors can also Locate C&D Facilities to recycle your construction and demolition waste materials by visiting:

RCI provides reliable recovery and recycling reporting for participating C&D facilities. RCI offers third-party verified diversion rates for facilities through its "Certification of Real Rate" (CORR) program and publishes the results online for public viewing. For more information and to view certified facilities and their recycling rates, visit the RCI website at www.recyclingcertification.org.

Onsite waste can be reduced by jobsite practices such as:

  • Construction teams should define their material streams of material flow coming from a job site. Examples of material streams include deconstructed materials sent to reuse markets or re-used on-site, commingled materials sent to mixed-waste recycling facility, source separation where each material is sent to a specific facility, manufacturers’ or suppliers’ take-back of materials.
  • Contractors should look for C&D facilities that certify their diversion rates, in some places facilities obtain 3rd party certification to demonstrate they are achieving at least 65% diversion without using some materials as ADC.
  • Contractors can sub-contract with suppliers of pre-fabricated building components so that less waste is generated on the construction site.
  • In the case of building demolitions and rehabilitations, contractors may want to subcontract with a specialized deconstruction contractor, sometimes they also handle abatement if there is any lead, mercury or asbestos on site, who can more carefully disassemble the building than doing a demolition.