Like most city , Akron , Ohio has its share of vacant buildings . In the past , no one would have batted an middle at take a bust up ball and razing the structures . Not any longer . In 2010 , the city and the local Habitat for Humanity began to dismantle four empty anatomical structure bit - by - bit instead of bulldozing them .
If taking a house apart , board - by - board , shingle - by - shingle , seems like a tedious – some would say conscientious – job , it is . A destruction contractor can usually tear down a single - household mansion in two days ; it took Akron Habitat workers 20 . The metropolis usually pays a contractile organ $ 3,484 to knock down a base , but Akron paid Habitat for Humanity $ 7,500 to " deconstruct " one family [ source : Breckenridge ] .
Although deconstructionism , the cognitive operation of tearing down a household while salvaging andrecyclingbuilding materials , is ab initio more expensive and time consuming than outright demolition , it is far better for the environment . In deconstructing a building , workers save and recycle whatever stuff they can instead of taking the debris to a local landfill . In fact , Habitat design to sell what they retrieve so others can reuse the materials .
grant to the Construction Materials Recycling Association , construction and demolition waste are the largest sources of scrap in the United States . The association says 325 million tons of recoverable structure debris is generated in the United States each year [ source : Construction Materials Recycling Association ] . In the yesteryear , all that alloy , concrete , wood , block andasphaltwould have ended up in a landfill . The key to a successful deconstruction labor is to recycle what you may , and reuse the rest .
While not every fleck of construction and demolition debris can – or even should – be recycle , much of what go into a theater can be recycle . Go to the next page to ascertain out which structure materials can easily be recycled at your chore internet site .
10: Wood and Lumber
contractile organ build more or less 1 million raw single - house home each class in the United States at a toll of nearly $ 100 billion [ reservoir : Falk ] . That amount balloons to nearly $ 200 billion when you take into account construction of multi - family and manufactured homes , as well as the repair and renovation of existing home [ source : Falk ] . Most of that money is pass on wood used for framing , sheathing , doors , flooring and windows , and much of that forest come from pure timber [ root : Falk ] .
The U.S. government estimates most 1 billion board - feet in timber can be salvaged each year [ source : U.S. Department of Agriculture ] . Much of that wood is high quality and includes large timber chassis . If builders recycled or reused all the Natalie Wood in a 2,000 - hearty - metrical foot home , it would generate up to 6,000 board - foot in reusable lumber , saving 33 trees . In summation , recycling would reduce the volume of wood take uplandfillspace by at least 8,420 three-dimensional feet ( 238 cubic meter ) [ source : Deconstruction Institute ] .
Workers can reprocess wood in a diverseness of ways . By re - milling honest-to-god lumber and quality , contractors can work up raw floors , paneling , doors and windows . Builders can also reprocess woods to construct fresh barns and fences . That ’s not all . Machines can easily grind waste forest so that it can by and by be turn into particleboard .
9: Drywall
What would a building be withoutdrywall ? For one thing , it would be passably chilly indoors during the winter because there would n’t be any interior walls . Drywall is made of gypsum sandwiched between two sheet of paper . It is the prime material used in midland twist and house restoration work . The United States produces about 15 million tons of young drywall annually [ source : CA.gov ] . Concurrently , about 25 percent of all construction waste is made up of wallboard [ source : Ohio State University ] .
as luck would have it , drywall is easy torecycleand reuse . Builders can use scraps of it to plug away possible action in walls , and workers can also utilise bits of it to fashion forms to put up fuddled concrete . Drywall can also be turned into agricultural products . Specifically , wallboard contains atomic number 5 . Although B is love as a flaming retardant , it ’s also a flora nutrient . landscapist can merge the constituent with filth to render plants with a source of nutrient - full-bodied food [ source : CA.gov ] . In addition , the paper that circumvent the gypsum can also be added to soil , recycled into posterboard or fresh dry wall , or composted for fertilizer [ source : CA.gov ] .
8: Steel
Developers often use brand to build the superstructure ofskyscrapers , high - rise apartment construction , bridges and other structures . Americans reuse more than 65 million tons of scrapsteeleach year . recycle steel keep its strength and durability . In fact , all brand framing turn back at least 28 percent of recycled steel . To work up a distinctive 2,000 - square - foot house , worker will employ an amount of steel adequate to about six junked auto [ source : Recycle Steel ] . blade girders , truss and piling can all be reuse from construction sites .
7: Roofing Shingles
Believe it or not , nearly 11 million wads of roof shingle waste is return each class in the United States . Most of that waste – 10 million ton – come from the shingles off of old homes [ source : CA.gov ] . Unlike many construction materials , roof shingle are very durable . They can last well-nigh 20 or 30 age before they require to be replace .
Most shingles are made from a felt mat infused with asphalt ( which is made from crudeoil ) and tiny snatch of rock . These shingles are hardy , and can withstand scorching heat and os - chilling temperature . But when they are slay from a roof , they can be ground down and actually used in pavement undertaking and as patches for pothole . Shingles can also berecycledinto new shingle and sometimes processed into fuel [ source : CA.gov ] .
6: Glass and Windows
If you could reuse your old windows in any construction and renovation undertaking , then you should . Whilerecyclingwindows and other glass Cartesian product might seem like a good thing , detergent builder rarely do it . Why is that ? First , looking glass is cheap to make . There ’s a seemingly eonian supplying of its main ingredient : sand . Second , glass maker have very precise requirements for their products , and recycled glass sometimes does n’t check well within the specifications of these products . While all glass is essentially the same matter , there are elusive differences depending on what the deoxyephedrine is used for .
Additionally , window glass admit many parts , such asaluminum , vinyl , insulating spacers and lamination layer that need to be get rid of before the window can be recycled . It is usually very time eat up and costly to remove these parts [ author : American Architectural Manufacturers Association ] .
5: Landscaping Waste
When you ’re disregard brush from your backyard , or removing trees and other botany to make way for a new household , reprocess landscape painting waste should be an significant part of your building plan . Many land and local communities have banned landscape waste from local landfill , so contractor are fairly much necessitate to reuse or recycle the waste . Contractors can use most yard waste as mulch to send around the 1000 as a landscape painting accent and to reduce weed growth . Homeowners can also compost most landscape waste product , or dig up and replant vegetation such ashydrangeas , hostas and rose .
4: Appliances
There are second acts in life , especially for most appliances . If your construction undertaking includes a major kitchen improver or renovation , and the householder are purchasing novel contraption , there are a few thing you’re able to do with the old ones including the followers :
3: Concrete and Masonry
Once thought of as mere scraps , concrete debris is now routinely recycled and reuse , saving builders 1000000 of one dollar bill and release up space inlandfills . Each yr , construction ship’s company reprocess 140 million short ton of concrete in the United States [ beginning : Concrete Materials Recycling Association .
Once concrete and masonry rubble is remove from a expression web site , the waste product is taken to a crushing substance for a fee . These readiness , which only accept concrete that is free of trash , wood and other materials , will mash and riddle the rubble to remove grease and other particles . Concretecan also be crushed and sift at the business internet site [ source : Concrete Materials Recycling Association ] . Once crushed , concrete can be reused in paving for roadstead and driveways . Recycled concrete is also a serious foundation on top of which contractile organ can place pipes and other utility . Landscapers also apply large pieces of concrete rubble in their body of work .
2: Asphalt
Each year , thousands of mile of roadway are resurface or replace . builder not only expend mineral pitch to build roads in residential neighborhoods , but also in main road , airportrunways and parking lots . The Federal Highway Administration estimates that construction work party hit 90 million tons of asphalt each year from American roads . Out of that turn , a thumping 90 pct isrecycledand reuse in repaving and reconstructive memory projects [ rootage : Brown ] .
1: Copper
Copperis a much sought - after metal . The mediocre home contains about 400 pounds of cop piping and wiring [ source : DIY web ] . copper color can convey up to $ 3 a lb in some areas . In fact , the copper recycling market is so moneymaking that thieves often break into twist web site to slip copper piping and wire . Like steel , when copper is recycle it keep its strength and durability . However , many local codes command raw buildings materials . For illustration , copper tobacco pipe and wire can not be recycle in plumbery or electrical installations so it ’s more often scavenge and sell to junkyard and fleck - metal dealer to be used elsewhere [ source : Zeller ] .
