Demolition used to mean knocking down a building and hauling anything that wasn't metal to the landfill. This included masonry, wood, kitchen cabinets, bathroom fixtures and glass were dumped. In fact a familiar scene in modern culture ads and television shows the machine with the wrecking ball smashing everything its path.

However, today the world thinks differently about how construction waste is disposed. In fact a study commissioned by Massachusetts architects, contractors and the Department of Environment Protection concluded that almost every material from a demolition can be recycled. In addition it stated that 40% of all raw materials used in the U.S. goes into the construction industry and 130 million tons, or 25%, of solid waste is from the same industry.

One more interesting fact that came out of this report was that the cost of recycling is lower than the cost of disposing of the materials. This comes at a time when landfills are close to their limits and the tipping fees for disposal are breaking the budgets of contractors. So with this news in hand many are looking toward recycling and reusing both surplus building materials and the proceeds from demolition.

Constructing and De-Constructing

It is the power of the ordinary dollar that prompts an industry to change tactics. It is happening with the huge jump in the price of oil where car makers are being forced to stop making the gas-guzzlers and look at the hybrid-electrics and small engines that get 50 miles per gallon. It is the same with the building industry where the cost of shipping materials is through the roof as is the cost of filling the tanks of construction machinery.

Deconstructing is defined as an orderly dismantling so that the materials can be reused in the construction industry or recycled. When we think of demolition or deconstruction the thought that first comes to mind is the tearing down of an old building. But residential homes get demolished for many reasons: rotting infrastructure, to build a bigger home or appropriation for a wider road. In these instances crews strip the asphalt shingles for use in new asphalt pavement, stained glass and exotic wood for resale, the fixtures for resale and the wood frame for lumber.

In fact this new economy of scale has made the demolition of a building more of a profit center than a necessary arrangement to build a new place. Every metal product has at least doubled in price with copper leading the way so an old, leaking building that used to get flattened and its content trucked away for highway fill is now a treasure trove of materials:

• copper, lead, aluminum and other pipe and conduit metal
• silver from electrical parts
• gold from electrical parts
• exotic woods
• staircases
• glass
• asphalt shingles and pavement for new paving
• bricks
• plastics
• gypsum from drywall
• wood
• fiberglass insulation
• etc.

Not only does the resurrecting of all these materials save money and landfill space the process also creates jobs in recycling plants and reduces building expenses.

Toxic Materials: Another Reason to Deconstruct

Asbestos: Years ago asbestos was a miracle product. It insulated, was heat resistant and could be used in a spray. Ships and buildings were always coated with asbestos as a sound-dampener and to insulate the bulkheads. Now we know that asbestos is a carcinogenic material, as deadly as any out there. It is for this reason that specialty crews using protective gear clean out the asbestos before the building comes down and avoiding the release of asbestos particles into the air.

Fluorescent Bulbs: The long, fluorescent bulbs are seen in office buildings, schools, warehouses and government building everywhere. They are cost effective and long-lasting. However, they are injected with argon and a drop of liquid mercury which vaporizes into a poisonous gas. The inside of the tube is coated with phosphor which gives off the light in conjunction with the mercury atom. The problem is that these bulbs eventually burn out and the mercury-filled tubes become an environmental problem. In fact every year over a quarter-billion (250,000,000) fluorescent and high-intensity discharge (H.I.D.) lamps are replaced. That's a lot of mercury.

The old way of disposing the bulbs was to smash them on site in a contained area. The material was sealed in drums and hauled away to have the mercury taken out. However, during this process, some mercury does escape. Now there are companies that provide a pick-up service for the old fluorescent tubes which are taken to a depot for dismantling. The bulbs are is separated into the original materials. For example, mercury is removed from the tube and stored for reuse. To make this more secure there are monitors for mercury vapor. The metal and glass is recycled.

New Laws

In some states there are laws which require at least 50% of the of the waste products created by construction or demolition projects be recyled. As well, these states at least 75% of all non-harmful debris created by a construction or demolition project – brick, glass, wood, concrete - be used elwhere other that a landfill.