Joe Laquatra, left, associate professor of design and environmental analysis, and Mark Pierce, research support specialist, examine con struction debris at the construction site of local builder R. Scott Billings.
By Roger Segelken
As much as 10 percent of the "value" of a new house is gone before the proud owners move in, tossed in the trash and hauled to a landfill.
Now, analysts at the College of Human Ecology are weighing every scrap that leaves a typical home-building site, seeking ways to reduce, recycle or reuse construction waste.
"Building a three-bedroom, single-family house generates between four and seven tons of debris at a time when disposal fees are rising and some fa cilities are refusing to accept C&D [construction and demolition] waste altogether," said Joseph Laquatra, associate professor of design and envi ronmental analysis, who leads the study. "One hundred million tons of construction waste are thrown away every year in this country -- about a quarter of the contents of our landfills -- yet 60 to 90 percent can be recycled."
The new scrap-counting project is supported by the Cornell Waste Manage ment Institute (WMI) and the Cornell Center for the Environment, in coopera tion with the Home Builders Institute (HBI), an affiliate of the National Asso ciation of Home Builders (NAHB) and with a tolerant builder who doesn't mind nosy scientists on the job site.
Here's what Laquatra and his assistant, Research Support Specialist Mark Pierce, have collected and analyzed so far at a site where RDR Construction Inc. is building three-bedroom homes in New York state's Orange County:
·790 pounds of solid wood scraps, 458 pounds of manufactured wood and 46 pounds of sawdust.
·154 pounds of corrugated cardboard, mostly from long boxes of vinyl siding.
·1,788 pounds of gypsum from "sheet rock" drywall scraps.
·155 pounds of plastic, such as vinyl siding scraps and empty containers.
·262 pounds of asphalt roofing scraps.
·133 pounds of masonry materials.
·21 pounds of paper.
Although their findings won't be ready for presentation in an educational pro gram for members of the NAHB until 1996, Laquatra and Pierce already have some idea of possible solutions and a greater appreciation of the problems.
Much of the solid wood scrap comes from shipping pallets, and pallets are being recycled into furniture by at least one company, Laquatra observed. Other types of wood debris can be chipped and used for landscape mulch. Municipal waste-management officials should consider establishing central sites for all lo cal builders to send recyclable wood scraps, he suggested. And manufacturers
might supply more lumber sized to standard lengths, such as the 6-foot-8-inch "jack studs" that reinforce door frames, Pierce suggested.
Gypsum scraps are recycled by manufacturers in the Northwest in a demonstration program that should spread nationwide, Laquatra said. Oth erwise, when gypsum is sent to landfills, it gets wet and produces noxious fumes. One problem with recycling plastic is that it has to be absolutely clean, Laquatra said. That means no
mud on the vinyl siding scraps and no leftover chemicals in containers.
"As the costs of materials and disposal go up, builders will become more inter ested in alternatives," Laquatra predicted.
"Ultimately, the consumer has to demand more value for their money, just as energy-efficient homes are now valued," he said. "Buyers should ask: 'How much attention does this builder pay to the environment when he builds my house, and how much is being saved by avoiding disposal costs?'"