Waste Management
Construction waste management (CWM) is the recycling or reuse of excess building materials—everything from drywall offcuts from new construction to an entire building’s worth of bricks from deconstruction.
When materials are purchased for a job and then go unused or wasted, avoidable costs and environmental burdens result. Attention to CWM, especially when starting early in design, can reduce tipping fees and earn LEED credits.
Waste Management
Deep Dives
Get up to speed on complex topics. You can also earn CEUs and download PDF Spotlight Reports.
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Treated Wood in Transition: Less Toxic Options in Preserved and Protected Wood
Feature Article
Following the recent phaseout of CCA, the dominant wood preservative of the last 30 years, the treated wood industry is in major transition. Some current wood treatment technologies present familiar environmental problems, while less-toxic alternatives are just entering the market.
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Prefabricating Green: Building Environmentally Friendly Houses Off Site
Feature Article
Prefabricated housing offers several potential environmental benefits, including reduced transportation impacts, reduced waste, and quality control for better durability and performance. Aside from a few industry leaders, however, most manufacturers do not take full advantage of those efficiencies to create affordable high-performance houses.
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The Potential of Prefab: How Modular Construction Can Be Green
Feature Article
Offsite modular construction not only cuts costs and construction times but also benefits people and the planet.
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Waste Not, Want Not: Case Studies of Building Material Reuse
Feature Article
Reclamation and reuse of building materials can be a tough sell and hard to design for, but many project teams have learned to make it work. Here’s how.
Quick Takes
Jump straight to the essentials with these short explanations of green building concepts.
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Retrofit or Build New? How Product Teams are Choosing
Infographic
Reasons to retrofit, reasons to tear down and build new, and how to decide.
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Circular Economy: Better Design from Start to … Start
Explainer
“Circularity” is about more than just recycling. It means building and buying things only when necessary—and without wasting anything.
In The News
We break news down to the essentials and provide expert analysis.
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Wallboard Recycling Monster Arrives from Europe
News Analysis
Gypsum Recycling America, LLC, is importing a new technology that processes wallboard into reusable gypsum powder and paper fragments.
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World Trade Center Construction Uses Onsite Composting
News Analysis
The One World Trade Center construction project in New York has been using food and waste composting systems during the first phase of construction, to be completed in 2013.
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Designing the Culture of a Zero Waste City
News Analysis
Design plays a key role in helping cities overcome the logistical and social barriers to eliminating waste.
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Waste Not Want Not: NYC Zero Waste Design Guidelines
News Analysis
If we can reduce waste here, we can do it anywhere.
Learning Resources
Syllabus supplements and CEU content, with automatic reporting for AIA and GBCI.
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Waste Not, Want Not: Case Studies of Building Material Reuse
Feature Article
Reclamation and reuse of building materials can be a tough sell and hard to design for, but many project teams have learned to make it work. Here’s how.
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The Contractor’s Commitment: Lessons from the First Year
Webcast
The new “Contractor’s Commitment to Sustainable Building Practices" calls on firms to practice green building on the jobsite and beyond.
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Breaking Barriers to Building Material Reuse
Webcast
Buildings aren’t garbage. These three circularity loop-closers are making it easier and easier to reuse materials.
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The Missing Embodied Carbon Link: Construction
Spotlight Report
Just For Fun
Something weird happens every April at BuildingGreen...
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Reclaimed Building Materials in the Age of COVID
April Fools
Using reclaimed building materials is a great way to save resources and lower the embodied carbon of a building, but obtaining these materials in the age of COVID has created a new set of legal and ethical challenges.
