A study by Science Direct estimated that 30% of materials on a construction site ended up in landfills. DIY home improvement projects do not use anywhere near as wide a range of hazardous materials. However, a lack of experience on the part of the DIYer often means that leftover materials are not disposed of in as an environmentally friendly way.
We will now go through how to correctly dispose of the most construction and demolition debris. We will also discuss some strategies to reduce the carbon footprint from waste generated by construction and demolition projects.
Bricks are one of the largest types of waste generated from a construction project. They can be disposed of in an easy, sustainable way. They are, in fact, one of the easiest construction waste materials to dispose of. Bricks are also good reusable materials. There is absolutely no excuse for them to become landfill waste.
You have a few options when it comes to reusing or recycling old bricks. As mentioned, bricks are among the easier materials for construction waste recycling. The best option depending in part on your sense of craftiness and the condition of the bricks themselves.
These options include:
Although chipped or cracked bricks are not safe to use in walls, they may well be suitable for other construction materials. Some of the ways that we have done this include creating a fire pit, edging a lawn or garden feature, or creating a physical flood barrier.
If you only have a small number of bricks going to waste, and you regularly do DIY projects, it’s worth keeping them in an area in your home or garden that’s free of dampness. This way you can reuse materials for another job site.
Reclaimed bricks can sell for $1-2 per brick depending on their model and condition. If you have more than 50 bricks leftover from construction projects, you should be able to find local contractors or construction companies who will take the construction debris off your hands.
You may have some success trying to sell these bricks on listing sites like Gumtree or the Facebook Marketplace. However, the quickest way to do this is to contact companies that might be interested in buying the bricks directly. A simple phone call or email telling them what you have and where you are will suffice here.
The most time-trying to sell leftover bricks ensures that each brick is up to the required quality of the seller. This will involve you having to check each brick for:
Construction companies will probably be willing to accept bricks of different sizes and type being sold together. They may also accept bricks that are discolored (at a discount). However, they will not accept any cracked bricks. What is important here is that you know exactly what you are selling and that you are transparent to the buyer.
Do not worry about having to transport the bricks. Just keep them in a cool, dry area, ideally under a tarpaulin. The buying company will collect the bricks from you.
Bricks that are in too poor a condition to be resold can be taken to a recycling facility.
This recycling process involves crushing the bricks down to a fine powder. This powder is then either reused to make new bricks or used as a filtering medium.
Unfortunately, it is not as easy to recycle bricks compared to other materials. You have to take them to a specialist construction and demolition recycling center to get them recycled.
Although there aren’t any obvious ways to reuse gypsum once it has been removed, it can still be recycled. Recycled gypsum is ground down into pellets and then used to create new gypsum.
Gypsum often ends up in landfill (current estimates from the US Environmental Protection Agency indicate that only 2% of gypsum is currently recycled), However, this is particularly bad for the environment. Gypsum releases the greenhouse gas hydrogen sulfide when it is stored for a long period of time in a wet environment, such as in landfill.
Again, gypsum needs to be recycled at a specialist construction and demolition waste disposal center. Prior to recycling, you should remove any nails from the gypsum board. Also, try to strip as much paint or wallpaper off the gypsum as possible.
The less of these materials present on the gypsum when you take it to a waste facility, the more efficiently it can be recycled.
Untreated wood can go in with general recycling waste containers for curbside pickup. This includes whole wood or wood chips.
Unfortunately, the majority of wood that you use in home improvement projects has been treated in some way, and this makes it unrecyclable. However, given that treated wood is expensive you can usually sell it to local tradespeople, rather than throw it away into landfill.
Make sure that you store wood in a cool dry area so it does not warp or degrade in a way that makes it unsellable.
Although some metal cannot be recycled, most of the types of metal that are used in DIY projects can be recycled. These include:
Unfortunately, larger pieces of scrap metals cannot go into your recycling bin for standard recycling collection. Rather, they need to be delivered to a local recycling center.
If you have a huge amount of scrap metal, and that metal is all of one type, then it may be worth trying to sell it to a scrap metal dealer. It’s worth looking into this if you have a large amount of copper, lead or steel leftover after construction projects. Always check potential recycling options beforehand.
The ideal way to “dispose” of paint is to keep it sealed as tightly as possible in a cool, dry location and plan to use it in your next project. Paints are considered hazardous construction waste in broad categories. Disposing of paints irresponsibly can lead to health and environmental issues.
Failing that, the next best way to dispose of paint depends on the type of paint in question.
Latex-based paint cannot be recycled, however, it can be safely thrown away in general garbage.
To do this safely you want to mix whatever remaining paint you have with cat litter (at a 50/50 ratio) and let it dry out to form a solid block. Once dried you can then throw it away in general garbage.
Oil-based paints count as hazardous waste and therefore need to be disposed of at a recycling center. You should ask your local waste disposal center if they have the facilities to accept oil-based paint as not all do.
Lead-based paint is also categorized as hazardous waste and therefore the same rules apply to it as oil-based paint.
A lot of the waste material that builds up during DIY projects can be disposed of in a relatively environmentally friendly way. However, there are some ways that you can reduce the carbon footprint from construction and demolition waste. These include:
- Take the time to work out what building materials can be recycled and what cannot, and choosing your materials accordingly
- Taking care to make sure that you do not overbuy materials, and making plans for how you can reuse any excess
- Finding out where your nearest recycling centers are, and what items they accept
- Making sure that you have a large enough dumpster for any items that do need to go to landfill.
This article was contributed by Volodymyr Barabakh. Volodymyr is the Owner and Project Director of residential construction company Fortress Home.
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