Nowadays of shrinking throwaway options, a reuse, recycle approach is rapidly becoming practical, and construction experts are being forced to focus on this idea by a combination of growing popular support for GREEN plus dollars and cents considerations-whether they are environmentally minded or not.
According to Frank Coolick, Administrator of Section of Environmental Protection's Solid and Dangerous Waste materials Program - there have been over 400 landfill sites in N.J. in the 1970s many of which accepted construction and demolition waste materials. Today there are 13 and a single is scheduled to close at some point later on.
The pressure is on, says Mr. Buono, who's also a founding member of US Green Building Council's N.J. Chapter (USGBC-NJ). It is rather important now to obtain people thinking about sustainability and recycling. Mr. Buono entered this once unlikely relationship between his chosen profession of construction waste administration (CWM) and environmentalism, because of this of this perspective.
Not one to draw punches he spoke of 'garbage' numerous times during our discussion, and said he sees garbage simply because an integral bridge connecting people to GREEN. "People relate to garbage a lot more than they do to geothermal or sunlighting," he said. When they hear about recycling garbage they state - "Ok last one - saving the planet".
It is due to people want Mr. Buono that the days are a-changing. To those committed to building recognition of the new GREEN purchase, garbage has become our teacher - first, since it is everywhere and second, because it isn't heading anywhere unless we rethink our procedures and policies.
The ascendancy of USGBC's LEED - Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design - rating system is an indicator that environmental concerns are being taken seriously. Language on the nationwide USGBC website illustrates how overarching this system can be, stating that "LEED provides building owners and operators the various tools they need to have an instantaneous and measurable effect on their buildings' efficiency... advertising a whole-building approach to sustainability by recognizing performance in five key regions of human being and environmental health: sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, components selection, and indoor environmental quality." However because LEED standards remain relatively not used to the world of building and demolition - the USGBC itself was just founded junk removal service in the 1993 - working towards actually one LEED certification is certainly regarded as a major undertaking by many, and is not entered into gently. Achieving a LEED certification is regarded as a cause for pride.
It is therefore noteworthy that Mr. Buono, who offers been hammering away at recycling C&D waste for over two decades, has created construction waste management programs for 32 LEED tasks, including the ground breaking Willow School, in Gladstone, N.J. the first LEED Gold Certified Building in the state (2002) - which recycled over 90% of its waste materials at a significant net cost benefits for the project.
To put it simply, Mr. Buono goes into as a consultant, conducts a waste materials audit and identifies the percentage which can be removed from the dumpster. He anticipates saving the cost of paying for those disposal services totally. Yet, broaching a waste management program can be a challenging sell. To achieve his mission he must bring in the thought of recycling without alienating his clients. While many people are theoretically in favor of a healthy environment, generally, he said, dollars and cents are still the bottom line. His job is to get them to discover that recycling could be conducted at least at the same price as not really recycling, and more likely at an unanticipated revenue which can be used for GREEN materials and systems down the road. He wants to obtain his customers to see that becoming GREEN is not simply amorphously 'good,' it really is good business and very good PR.
For this reason planning is of the essence, Mr. Buono says. However when a business throws its hat into the LEED arena, there exists a much bigger picture to consider. LEED provides a roadmap for calculating and documenting success for every building type and every stage of a building's lifecycle by attaching factors to carefully articulated specifics
within numerous categories including:
New Commercial Building and Major Renovation projects
Existing Building Functions and Maintenance
Commercial Interiors projects
Core and Shell Advancement projects