W4.8 Reduce construction debris
According to the National Association of Homebuilders, building an average 2,000-square-foot home generates 1,500 to 3,700 pounds of solid wood waste and 1,000 to 1,800 pounds of engineered wood waste. Three components of it — cardboard, wood and drywall — consistently account for 60-80% of the total on most job sites, and are fully recyclable.
The final draft of the County’s 2017 waste management plan reports that 2% of the wood and construction debris reaching the transfer station is recycled, but much of this is presumably demolition materials rather than scrap from new construction. San Francisco requires diverting 65% of construction, demolition and remodeling waste from the landfill, and requires large new commercial and industrial buildings to divert a minimum of 75% of construction waste and meet LEED Materials and Resources credit 2 requirements for recovering, reusing, and recycling materials. (In fact, it may now require reusing or recycling all construction and demolition debris.)
Sustainable Living, a spinoff of Seattle architectural firm CollinsWoerman, builds apartment houses using pieces that are all manufactured and finished, shipped, and snapped into place on site. There’s virtually zero waste at the site, because all the parts are fitted and to spec. The buildings use one-sixth the energy of comparable standard buildings, use DC low-wattage lighting, have radiant heat in floors, and provide on-site water treatment; the system only takes nine months to finish a building that would typically take two years.