Minimizing Waste to Reduce Ecological Footprint at Construction Company Matt Brule

Plan for Minimizing Waste to Reduce Ecological Footprint at a Construction Company

By Matt Brule for SNC2P January 30, 2017

What the company I work for does:

 I work for Capital City Flooring and Renovations.  I am one of  about 10 guys in the company. We install flooring,  banisters and staircases. We  also renovate bathrooms, install showers and any other task you can think of provided our boss has someone who can do the job. Ron, my boss lines up jobs for us and we all meet in the morning. He tells us where to go for the job, we load tools into my van and then off we go do the job. The average job takes about 2-3 days. When job done is done there is always a lot of waste from everything we have torn out. During the job debris is put in garbage bags which we put in a big trailer. After the job is done I or my boss brings the load to the dump. We have to pay to have it dumped at the dumps site off Moodie Drive.  This is my plan to reduce and recycle the waste taken out.

My Plan:

To help the environment im putting in a plan at my work so a lot of the materials we normally bring to the dump get recycled. In order to do so we would need to get  a Blue Bin, a Green Bin, a Black Bin and a Re-use Bin in addition to the garbage bin/bags we already use  so we can separate all the waste and reusables from every job. This would eliminate the amount of garbage brought to the dump every week and it would be alot better for the environment.

List of materials that we normally bring to the dump:

-wood

-metal

-carpet

-cardboard

-plastic

-paint cans

-aluminium

What we would do differently:

Green bin

-wood

Blue bin

-Metal

-Paint cans

-Aluminum

-plastic

Black bin

-cardboard

Garbage

-carpet

Re-Use & Re-Purpose

We could also reuse some material that is still good at the end of a job for a different job in the future.  Anything that the company does not reuse can be brought to Habitat for Humanity ReStore. Follow the link below for more information on ReStore and how to bring used construction materials a new life while helping communities in need.

https://www.habitat.ca/restore

Habitat for Humanity ReStores are home and building supply stores that accept and resell quality new and used building materials. Shopping at a Habitat ReStore is a socially conscious decision, as funds generated are used to fund local Habitat for Humanity home building projects.

That is my idea to reduce our ecological footprint and help the environment.

The City of Ottawa website details how demolition and construction waste can be properly diverted https://ottawa.ca/en/residents/garbage-and-recycling/hazardous-waste-and-special-items#special-items

Construction material

Plaster, wood (including pressure-treated lumber), drywall, concrete, asphalt or other waste resulting from building construction, renovation or demolition are brought to the Trail Road Landfill Site or to another landfill.

The following companies offer a program for recycling some construction and renovation materials:

·   The West Carleton Environmental Centre has plans to improve waste management for companies  such as the one I work for to reduce waste going to landfills. More information can be found at this website: http://wcec.wm.com/wcec/facilities.jsp “The proposed facility will be aligned with the City of Ottawa’s long-term waste management goals and the province’s environmental values and policy statements relating to zero waste, climate change and green energy creation. “

·   In addition the Tomlinson Waste Recovery Centre http://wasterecoverycentre.com/ has a waste recovery centre for construction debris and waste materials. They accept construction and demolition waste, electronic waste, blue and black waste, metal decommissioned appliances, solid non-hazardous waste.