Waste Management for
Construction and Demolition

Establishing a successful construction or demolition (C&D) waste recycling operation in the USA is a challenge today, especially because secondary materials markets have not yet matured.

Lincoln Waste Solutions has developed an award winning solid waste management system designed to decrease your waste spend while offering shared savings on various waste solutions. Increasingly, municipal solid waste (MSW) landfill operations refuse to accept C&D waste making trash management more of a day-to-day problem.

Skyrocketing tipping fees, exorbitant dumpster costs as well as expensive roll-off fees, all due to the scarcity of landfill sites have made C&D waste management a tricky business particularly with growing concerns from regulatory agencies and the public who all of a sudden seem to have a waste focus.

All of these waste solutions have placed C&D waste recycling operations under intense scrutiny. This is why you need Lincoln Waste Solutions. The experiences of regional C&D recyclers indicate that successful recycling operations require a minimum clear space for processing equipment, incoming waste stockpiles, recycled materials, and maneuvering room for mobile equipment and operations. Using a waste broker such as Lincoln eliminates these headaches as these are problems we worry about…not you.

Reasonable quality, reliable equipment suitable for these operations generally costs between $300,000 and $750,000 for a 400-500 ton/day operation. At present, operators of these facilities make a profit almost solely on tipping fees, with the recycling operation functioning mainly to maintain materials throughput.

However, different categories of C&D recycling machinery and waste processing strategies are presented by Lincoln Waste Solutions to handle your trash outsourcing. Strategies for converting C&D landfills into successful C&D recycling operations are a specialty for Lincoln and by conducting a waste audit backed by advanced trash solutions, we can minimize your waste spend.

C&D waste recycling economics are the bottom line and any money we manage to save you, we split with you, 50-50. It is this partnership is solid waste management that is the essential ingredient for a successful partnership in waste management. The construction industry is the major solid waste generator in America. In 2010, it generated about 682,710 tons per day of construction and demolition (C&D) waste.

In the management of such a huge quantity of C&D waste, it is important to adopt a strategy of depositing the inert portion (e.g. sand, bricks and concrete) of the waste at public filling areas for land reclamation and the non-inert portion (e.g. plastics, paper, wood) at municipal solid waste landfills. This takes relationships with many different haulers and the fact that Lincoln pays their haulers within 15 days insures a solid relationship that guarantees your C&D will go out on time.

It is important to remember that the C&D waste arisen is usually in the form of a mixture of both inert and non-inert materials and it is tricky to be responsible for getting the material to the right landfill. You will no longer deal with multiple haulers but will make one phone call to your Lincoln account manager whose sole job is to manage your waste spend. As a result, the waste has to be disposed of at landfills, aggravating the landfill shortage problem. For some trash haulers there is a paramount need to separate the C&D waste into its constituent parts before it is delivered to either the landfills or the public filling areas for disposal, however, Lincoln only works with those single steam trash brokers who can make one stop.

In order to study the feasibility of carrying out on-site waste sorting and the current situation of the building relating C&D waste generated in whatever your locations, Lincoln Waste Solutions will conduct an exhaustive waste audit and guarantee you, before we even look at your invoices, a ten percent savings over your last year’s waste spend. We will evaluate alternative waste sorting methods on building construction sites and compare them with the use of an off-site central waste sorting facility to see where your savings are. Usual results indicate source separation has the advantages of requiring less effort and resulting in better segregation of inert and non-inert wastes as compared with waste sorting centrally carried out at a designated area on- or off-site.

In addition, the views of our building industry Clients have given us a better understanding of their attitude on on-site waste sorting. The waste audit results indicate that the building construction participants are reluctant to carry out on-site waste sorting. Even when high a tipping fee is imposed, they have little incentive to perform on-site waste sorting which is considered to be time and labor demanding. Only through contractual requirements or legislation can on-site waste sorting be fully implemented and becomes a long-term solution to the landfill shortage problem in America.

In the mean time, we will continue to utilize all of our resources and waste management relationships to keep your C&D prices low. We are your construction specialists offering you a single point of contact who will anticipate your needs during every phase of construction and provide you with up-to-date knowledge of local disposal regulations and requirements, this will help you keep your project on time and on budget. In the end, as with any change to structure, the main component of making waste reduction work is staff and Customer involvement, as well as a partnership between you and Lincoln Waste.

Implementing new products and programs without integrating a comprehensive training program, precluded by a waste audit, will result in failure. Most employees are excited to implement sustainable practices at the work, especially when they feel they are doing the next right thing in terms of helping the planet. Properly training them on the Lincoln Waste Solutions system will ensure that your new sustainability programs are accepted and successful.