Agenda - 01-20-1998 - 10a - Laserfiche WebLink

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The Biggest Recycling Job of All t s one thing to recycle L-0taxe bottles artd cans and a few rrarrts of ofnce paper. It s quite another to fi;ure out what m do with the big steel beams. old dry..zil, heating vents: old pipes, strap htmber and concrtte rubble coming out of construction sites when old buildi:tgs are torn aoµa or new homes or offices ore built. Dealing with construction and demolition debris may be the ultimate commercial recyc?irtg challenge. Data on how much gets recycled is sketc~•, but go••crnmeats ha.•e rood : ~_.tsons for keeping that land of buU.y and heavy ~•aste from littering ~acartt lots and filling up landfill space. The construction industry has grown more intezesied in recycling Cb:D ~•aste, espedall}• in regons where high L,.zdSll ~=piling fees make the cost of durarding it more P~l• In response to that need, Browning Ferris Industries. Sanifill Inc. and other Large waste handlirtg ii.-as have bees buying consnttctioa and demaii- lion processing iaclities equipped with crushers, shakers, screens and mag- nets to separate useful materias from debris. Construction materials that Cal be reused or reprocessed iadude ~yood. rsrdboai+d, metal. arvaaIl, lumber scraps and rubbly tiVaad nn be burned by power plants, but it also can be used For compost laadsapirg mulch or for mal~iitg paper or particleboard. G.psurn dn•~alI can be carve:`.ed to a soil additive and also can be returned to manufacturers fac repevicessiag; In the male of a 1991 Southern California earthquake, the Los ~rtgeles Integrated Solid ~~~aste Management Once geared up a Ia ,e-scale ear that recycled 10,000 tons a day of debris from destro.•ed sites. 1t'hen t.~e Portla.~d Trail Blazers demolished a car wash and e:c!'tibition hall and built a ne,~• arena, construction ~~•s receded 92 percent of the ~••aste ntateras From the project. sadrtg nearl~• S300,000 in IandfiU costs. Pa~artd•s commer- cial recycling ordinance, ~t•hicz went into effect this ~•ear, nrn~• requires m:tior construction projects to rec~r'.e ~~•ood, metal, rubble and ctrdboard. ~ _. ~ b 60 GOVERNING Su;ust I?96 Reryclins demolition dsbsis hom the eoastsnctioo site saved the builders of Portland's new sports eompltz almost 5200.000.