Introduction

Construction and demolition (C&D) materials consist of the debris produced during construction, renovation, and demolition of buildings, roads, and bridges. It is one type of solid waste. C&D materials are a major waste stream in U.S. and represent over 90 percent of total C&D debris generation. Reducing construction waste can provide many benefits to you, your workers, the community, and the surrounding environment. This Fact File gives a detailed look at defining C&D debris and reducing construction waste through reuse and recycling.

Background

C&D debris can include the following discarded materials:

• Concrete, cinder blocks, drywall, masonry, asphalt and wood shingles, slate, and plaster;
• Forming and framing lumber, plywood, wood laminates, wood scraps, and pallets;
• Steel, stainless steel, pipes, rebar, flashing, aluminum, copper, and brass, residential and commercial steel framing, structural steel, steel utility poles;
• Brick and decorative blocks;
• Siding, doors, and windows;
• Plumbing fixtures and electrical wiring;
• Non-asbestos insulation; and
• Wood, sawdust, brush, trees, stumps, earth, fill, rock, and granular materials.

Some methods of reducing C&D waste include selling or donating for reuse, reusing on site, recycling, and preventing pollution to thus reduce waste. By decreasing C&D materials disposed of in landfills or incinerators, you can help:

• Conserve landfill space, which can lead to fewer disposal facilities.
• Generate employment and economic activities in recycling industries and deliver more business prospects within the local community, particularly when deconstruction and selective demolition methods are used.
• Lessen total building project expenses through avoided purchase/disposal costs, and the donation of recovered materials to qualified 501(c)(3) charities, which offers a tax benefit. Also, onsite reuse lowers transportation costs that would be associated with disposal.
• Offset the environmental impact related to the extraction and consumption of virgin resources and production of new materials.

Sell or donate for reuse

Useful building or architectural parts, along with scrap materials, can regularly be reused or refurbished. Some items could be used by your company for your subsequent building job. Numerous items can be sold to used building materials stores, high-end salvaged architectural materials exchanges, salvaged wood distributors, scrap recyclers, individual homeowners, or waste exchanges. If you are unable to sell the items you have salvaged, some may be donated to help save costs on disposal.

Consider selling or donating for reuse the following C&D waste:

• Cabinets, doors, plumbing, lighting fixtures, tile carpeting, door hinges, wall paneling, mirrors, stairway banisters, construction-grade lumber, ornamental wood trim, clay tiles and bricks, copper and aluminum electrical hardware or wire, and some plumbing hardware;
• Fabric and architectural items from historic buildings;
• Old-growth timbers; and
• Clean, uncontaminated concrete waste for use as aggregate for soil stabilization or reprocessed for use in roads, foundation stone, and other projects. Rubble can be crushed and sieved for use as an aggregate.

Think about reusing the following C&D waste on site:

• Joist cut-offs can be cut up and used as stakes for forming or for headers around floor openings. Wood scraps can be used as bridging, splicers, wall components, filler, scabs, and spacers.
• Leftover rigid insulation can be used as ventilation baffles or installed into house envelopes at joist header assemblies.
• Asphalt can be reused by heating pavement, injecting petroleum distillates, grinding, mixing, and rerolling.

Recycle

Sort materials as they are generated to make the most of their recyclability and reuse. Prevent hazardous contamination of materials intended for reuse or recycling.

Keep the following in mind while recycling C&D waste:

• Send aluminum or copper wiring scrap, other wiring fixtures, conduit, iron, copper, brass, steel, lead piping, and appliances, such as refrigerators, freezers, washers, and/or stoves to metal recyclers.
• Uncontaminated scrap lumber or pallets can be recycled into furniture or chipped and used for landscape mulch, compost, animal bedding, boiler fuel, or engineered building products.
• Gypsum scraps can be recycled in some sites.
• Glass can be recycled into fiberglass or used in place of sand in paving material.
• Asphalt shingles can be used in asphalt highway and road paving and pothole repair.
• Thermal insulation, floor tiles, carpet, and carpet cushion can all be recycled.

Prevent pollution

To help prevent pollution, consider doing the following:

• Ask drywall suppliers to back-haul scrap drywall for use in new drywall production.
• Keep drywall cutoffs readily available to use for small areas.
• Swap toxic solvents, adhesives, and coatings with less hazardous products, like water-based or low volatile organic compound (VOC) paint, adhesives, joint compounds, and sealants.
• Recover solvents onsite for reuse, or contract with a recycling company.
• Prepare smaller test batches of solvents and coatings.
• Cover solvent, adhesive, and coating containers to prevent product evaporation.
• Use solvent-based coatings with high levels of solids to decrease air emissions.
• Arrange painting schedules to reduce wastes from cleaning equipment between tasks, shifts, or color changes.

Applicable laws & regulations

40 CFR 243 — Guidelines for the Storage and Collection of Residential, Commercial, and Institutional Solid Waste

40 CFR 257 — Criteria for Classification of Solid Waste Disposal Facilities and Practices

40 CFR 260 — Hazardous Waste Management System: General

40 CFR 273 — Standards for Universal Waste Management

Related definitions

Deconstruction: The selective disassembly of buildings to enable the reuse or recycling of valuable materials.

Hazardous waste: Waste with properties that make it dangerous or able to have a damaging effect on human health or the environment.

Key to remember

C&D debris is not federally regulated, except to the degree that solid waste landfills must follow some outlined standards. Because of this, states fill the main role in defining and regulating the management of C&D debris. Many states exclude certain materials from the legal definition of C&D debris, by categorizing them as hazardous or potentially toxic. Be sure to check with your state and how they define C&D debris. This definition could alter what can be reused and recycled.

Real world example

Data from EPA’s Recycling Economic Information (REI) Report shows that recycling C&D debris not only reduces waste but creates many jobs. The 2020 REI Report found that wages from recycling grew by $1.2 billion from 2007 to 2012. In 2012, recycling and reuse activities accounted for 681,000 jobs or 1.17 jobs for every 1,000 tons of materials recycled. The ferrous metal industry, C&D industry, and nonferrous metal industry were the largest three contributors to overall economic impacts. As the second largest sector contributing to recycling impacts out of the nine sectors covered in the Report, C&D clearly has a far-reaching impact on the U.S. Consider contributing to this positive impact by improving your reuse and recycling of C&D debris, which in the end leads to waste reduction.