- Know your materials. Inventory materials
and assess what to salvage/reuse and recycle. Then identify
possible markets for each type. Knowing markets will help
determine how materials should be sorted and stored.
- Get everyone onboard. Communicate specific
job-site material handling procedures to co-workers and
contractors to ensure participation. Appoint a recycling
supervisor. Involve and train workers. Establish a recognition
program to encourage employee participation. Discuss recycling
at project meetings. Educate all workers on the project
to keep lunch bags, caulking tubes and other trash out of
recycling bins.
- Develop a recycling plan. A waste management/recovery
plan addresses what materials will be generated, what procedures
will be used, who will haul away each material, and where
it will be hauled.
- Require subcontractors to participate in the recycling
program. Develop specific salvage/reuse or recycling
guidelines for subcontractors to follow as part of their
contracts.
- Allow time for deconstruction and salvage. Remove
salvageable items before demolishing part or all of a building.
Wood joists, wood flooring, bricks, cabinets, and architectural
details such as mantels and molding are among the most valuable
building materials. The DC region supports several enterprises
offering deconstruction and salvage services.
- Consider “time-based” hauling.
Using your project schedule, determine what materials are
likely to be generated at different points throughout the
project. To avoid contamination of recycling dumpsters,
effectively schedule dumpster pulls.
- Select a recycler. Find a hauler or recycler
to handle the job. Discuss the project with recycling service
providers. Different companies offer different services
and materials handling methods. Understand what each is
capable of providing. The company you choose may be able
to meet all your recycling needs. Consider including the
following in the agreement: materials to be recycled, documentation
of weight or volume of materials recycled, schedule for
container pickup, and how containers will be labeled.
- Make recycling easy. Clearly mark and
locate bins and find locations to temporarily store materials.
Include bilingual signs and signage in the language of your
workers. Pictures can help non-English-speaking workers.
Place recycling bins in a location that will prevent misuse
or contamination by the public, and that will be as close
to the work as possible. Always provide a trash container
next to recycling bins.
- Monitor. Check recycling containers for
contamination and fullness. Visit the site periodically.
Check in regularly with subcontractors to ensure they are
properly recycling.
- Document, document, document. Work with
haulers, subcontractors and markets to track costs, quantities,
and types of materials recovered. Hauling slips can verify
recycling amounts.
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