Recycling depots aim to cut down on wastes
By jeffrey t. lavery
No more can shingles, concrete and aluminum be tossed into a truck and shipped to the dump. Instead, these materials and others get hand-picked out of construction rubble and kept out of the Commonwealth’s crowded landfills.
As of July 1, new legislation makes it illegal to dump construction and demolition debris at landfills. These materials must now be deposited at recycling centers designed to handle the massive amounts of wood, metal and concrete that currently pile up in dumpsites."Haulers and contractors have to start dumping at a facility like ours," says Rich O’Riley, president of ABC&D Recycling, Inc., in Ware. "They’ve got to get the mindset that these materials have to be recycled."
Enforcement remains key to success
Like never before, Massachusetts is suffering from trash overload, with numerous landfills capped and closed across the state. With the added stress placed on existing landfills, state environmental officials devised a plan to limit just how much material went into the remaining piles. The solution: Allow no more than 20 percent of construction and demolition wastes to enter the dump sites. And, in the process, recycle what’s left over to make new products.
At the Ware facility, ABC&D stands for asphalt, brick, concrete and demolition materials, the bread and butter of what the facility processes. Anyone can drop off C&D debris, from the single contractor’s pick-up truck to trailers with several tons of debris. The material is dropped on the floor and gone through by hand, with trained employees removing cement blocks, wood and aluminum, along with unwanted materials like asbestos and gypsum. Then, the waste gets pushed into a pile and fed through a processor where workers again pull any remaining recyclable material off a conveyor belt. The wood gets shredded into chips burned for fuel and asphalt returns as pothole patch. The residuals go to the landfill, but in a much smaller pile than before.
Due to the higher cost associated with recycling the waste, facilities like ABC&D hope that the Dept. of Environmental Protection lives up to its plan to heavily enforce the new legislation. If not, the haulers and waste giants may lack the motivation to recycle material that costs less to send to the dump.
Local experts say the cost means little compared to the overall benefits of recycling C&D wastes. "It does add a slight cost premium, but as it relates to total project cost the premium is not significant," says Fred Mulligan, president of Cutler Associates, Inc., a construction and design firm in Worcester. "Landfills are overflowing with wastes that could have been recycled."
Enforcement will determine the success of these facilities, adds Laura Canter, executive vice president of finance programs at MassDevelopment. "If the rules aren’t enforced, then there goes the revenue stream," notes Canter. The state agency helped secure a $5 million tax-exempt bond for ABC&D to build the facility and buy machinery. Now, MassDevelopment is assisting another C&D recycling facility to be built in Devens. Kurt Macnamara, president of the Devens Recycling Center, says the demolition business taught him the value of recycling.
"On a structure, we automatically try to find ways to salvage certain items," said Macnamara. "You can’t just throw it in the landfill. We’re using up all the land."
Jeffrey T. Lavery can be reached at jlavery@wbjournal.com
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