September 28, 1999, Whittier, California
Part of a Forum Series to Assist Local Jurisdictions in Getting to 50%
Organized by the Southern California Council on Environment and Development

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Kelly Ingalls, Regional Director, Construction Materials Recycling Association of Southern California (CMRA), Moderator: The City of Los Angeles can provide a free C&D recycling tool kit, contact the Bureau of Sanitation (213) 847-1444. Since 1995 the City of Los Angeles has required use of CMB and recycled concrete, rather than virgin materials, in road and street work.

Dan Copp, President of Dan Copp Crushing, Anaheim: We sell 2 million tons per year of road base made from recycled concrete, with no failures. It is equivalent to virgin aggregate and saves the state, cities and counties considerable money.

Steve Marvin, President and Professional Engineer, LaBelle and Marvin, Santa Ana: Recycling makes environmental and economic sense, whether you reuse the materials on site, or do recycling off site.

Jerry Ellison, Bureau of Engineering, City of Los Angeles: The City Bureau of Street Services uses 90% recycled pavement in resurfacing city streets, more than any other agency in this country.

Joe Sloan, Director of Market Development, Consolidated Disposal Services: The impediments to recycling are high land costs for recycling facilities and low tipping fees. In states where tipping fees are over $50 per ton, there is no C&D waste going to landfills.

John Richardson, Vice President and General Manager, Community Recycling: We put in equipment to recover dirt, wood, concrete and metal out of the C&D loads. We recycle just about everything except pieces of brick.

Senator David Roberti, Member of the CIWMB: The Board is working with developers, educating building professionals, posting local construction ordinances on our website, making loans in recycling market development zone program (RMDZ) and developing a reference manual.

Joe Houghton, L.A. County Sanitation Districts: We are doing a pilot project to use C&D waste as part of our ADC. We have found that mixing the ground up C&D with ground up greenwaste decreases the offensive odor and emphasizes a pine tree type of smell.

Welcome

Kathleen Gildred, Executive Director, SCCED:

We welcome you here today. SCCED has been working since 1993 to educate people towards sustainability. In June 1998, we had a very successful conference called "Getting to 50%" to inform people about ways to meet the 50% diversion goal. Since then we have had a series of forums on key topics, including Commercial Diversion and Multi-family Recycling, plus providing Southern California input into the CIWMB future planning process. Summaries from these meetings have been posted on our website at www.scced.org. We will have an upcoming forum on December 1 on Recycling Organics, as well as a "Take It Back" waste strategies conference, February 28 – March 1, 2000.

Recycling and Reusing C&D Materials

Kelly Ingalls, Regional Director, Construction Materials Recycling Association of Southern California (CMRA), Moderator:

We have just established the first local chapter in the USA of CMRA, which is a group of stakeholders interested in promoting C&D as a new industry standard. We hold quarterly meetings on the first Wednesday of the month.

The City of Los Angeles has a C&D recycling tool kit available for free, contact the Bureau of Sanitation (213) 847-1444. It lists where can you buy recycled materials. Since 1995 the City of Los Angeles has required use of recycled crushed miscellaneous base (CMB) and recycled concrete rather than virgin materials in road and street work.

Recycling Concrete

Dan Copp, President of Dan Copp Crushing, Anaheim:

We have been crushing used C&D materials since 1978 for recycled road base. We have 14 sites, plus we do on-site crushing using 4 portable crushing plants. Each plant is fully permitted with the local Air Quality Management Districts.

We collect asphalt and concrete from highways or building demolition. Often we crush the material on site and leave it for the contractor to use in the new construction. Other contractors bring us their waste and we make it into a finished product for them or other projects.

Caltrans has the following specifications for public works construction:

• Class II Aggregate Base (CAB) (made of virgin rock or recycled materials)
• Crushed Miscellaneous Base (CMB) (made of recycled materials)
• Processed Miscellaneous Base (PMB) (made of recycled materials)

We sell 2 million tons per year, with no failures in the materials we ship. The savings are considerable to the state, cities and counties.

Engineering Considerations in Using Recycled Aggregate

Steve Marvin, President and Professional Engineer, LaBelle and Marvin, Santa Ana:

In constructing highways, we have the choice to use new material from quarries, or to reuse old materials. In evaluating materials, we know the quarries have a consistent product. For material reuse, each load has to be inspected to maintain quality equivalent to new material.

Sources of old material include: Old Aggregate Base; Old Portland Cement Concrete from airfield and highway pavements, bridges and buildings; Old Asphalt Concrete from airfield and highway pavements.

In summary, recycling makes environmental and economic sense, whether you crush and reuse the materials on site, or do recycling off site. When quality control is used for both new and reused materials, it works well.

Recycling C&D in Los Angeles

Jerry Ellison, Bureau of Engineering, City of Los Angeles:

The City of Los Angeles has a policy to reduce the waste stream by reusing, recycling and buying recycled products. The Bureau of Engineering provides design management for sewers, storm drains, streets and architectural structures.

We have using CMB on our streets since 1977, as we realized we could be running out of virgin aggregate. We are happy to use CMB or PMB. The City Bureau of Street Services uses 90% recycled pavement in resurfacing city streets, more than any other agency in this country.

C&D Disposal, Recycling and Reclamation at Landfills and MRFs

Recycling and Reclamation at Nu-Way Landfill

John Workman, Waste Management (District Manager for Nu-Way Landfill, Irwindale):

The Nu-Way Landfill is a mine reclamation project. Only inert construction materials such as concrete, asphalt, brick, and dirt may be accepted. We accept both recyclable and non-recyclable loads. Recyclable loads are processed by Dan Copp to produce a Class 2 base material. Mine reclamation is a very productive use for inert construction materials.

The Economics of C&D Recycling

Joe Sloan, Director of Market Development, Consolidated Disposal Services:

The economics are simple from a hauler's perspective: What is the tipping fee and what is the hauling cost? The problem is C&D recycling sites require capital, and the nature of the construction business is boom and bust, you can't count on a steady stream of material. The market will drive the C&D recycling. When landfill costs increase, you will see more recycling. Now, the impediments to recycling are high land costs for recycling facilities and low tipping fees. But that will change when you see tipping fees get up to $30-35 per ton. In states where tipping fees are over $50 per ton, there is no C&D waste going to landfills.

Running a C&D Recycling Facility

John Richardson, Vice President and General Manager, Community Recycling:

Community Recycling has over 200 employees in facilities in Southern California in Sun Valley and transfer stations. In 1992 we put in equipment to recover dirt, wood, concrete and metal out of the C&D loads. After the Northridge earthquake, we had to handle a lot of different waste streams. We were able to recycle 92% of the C&D at first, when it was primarily concrete. The current percentage recycled is in the mid 70s.

We use screens to separate the material into various sizes and waste streams. The wood goes to be burned in power plants in the San Joaquin Valley and/or an MDF plant in Riverside. We recycle just about everything except pieces of brick.

Report from the CIWMB on C&D Recycling Statewide

Senator David Roberti, Member of the CIWMB:

The CIWMB approach to C&D is:

1. Reduce amount of waste generated
2. Facilitate collection of reusable materials
3. Fuel the purchase of the recycled products

We want to affect the original design of buildings, reduce wastes as they are constructed and then change the ways they are retired. We encourage deconstruction rather than demolition. This can increase profits as well as save landfill space.

We are also trying to facilitate the collection of C&D waste through our recycling market development zone program (RMDZ). We have made $4.5 million in loans to C&D recycling-related businesses over the last five years. Most of these loans focused on crushing asphalt, concrete and ceramic materials, as alternatives to mined aggregate. As a result of those loans, we are diverting about 1.5 million tons of materials every year!

Other efforts by the Board include promoting sustainable or "green" building practices. These result in: the creation of less waste; markets for recycled-content building products; lower costs over the life of the building.

Tour of Sanitation District's Pilot Project on C&D Recycling

Joe Houghton, L.A. County Sanitation Districts:

We are doing a pilot project at the Puente Hills landfill to see if we can use C&D waste as part of our ADC. We have been using a CBI grinder for greenwaste and were told that it would also grind up C&D debris. We tried it, and found it seemed to work well, so we got a second CBI grinder to use for C&D.

We have found that mixing the ground up C&D with ground up greenwaste decreases the offensive odor and emphasizes a pine tree type of smell. We are also looking at this combination for alternate intermediate cover (AIC) which we use for areas that we are not going to use for 6 months. We have a capacity of about 1000 tons per day of greenwaste and 100-600 tons per day for C&D.