Why are C&D Waste Recovery Markets Stalling

Why are Construction and Demolition Waste Recovery

Markets Stalling ?

A Look at Some Market Barriers

Why Should C&D Waste Recovery be Encouraged?

• Reduce waste to landfill: MfE estimates that up to 50% of all waste to landfill is C&D waste – 20% of all waste to landfill and 80% of all waste to cleanfill

• Protect the Environment: Some C&D Waste is harmful to the environment and should not be placed in cleanfills – eg treated timber, new asphalt, too much green-waste, MDF, carpet.

• Conserve scarce resources: eg metals, timber, asphalt, concrete.

• Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions: eg energy conservation, less cement manufactured

Why are Construction and Demolition Waste Recovery Markets Stalling?

1. Markets for recovered C&D waste – many products with many markets

2. Market Parameters

3. Some case studies

• Materials Processing Ltd

• Green Vision Recycling

• Christchurch Earthquake Demolition

Recycling of Each Waste Stream has Different Market Challenges

• Concrete • Asphalt • Steel and other metals • Timber – treated and untreated • Green waste / compost and worm

farms • Topsoil • Bricks • Plasterboard

Market Parameters

• Economics – revenue and profitability

• Environment – best practice and sustainability

• Quality – products that designers are willing to

specify

• Legal – incentives, regulation and enforcement

• Practicality – engaging the market

• Technology – research and development

Economics – Supply and Demand

• Price stability: recyclables prices are unstable –

may need to lock in contracts

• Demand reliability: subject to fluctuations in the

economy and market preferences

• Competitive disposal rates: many recyclers still

need gate charges to make a profit and many

alternative disposal options are cheaper or zero

cost – eg many cleanfills

Environment

• Uncontrolled disposal of C&D waste leads to environmental degradation.

• NZGBC - Green Building Initiatives (eg Green Star): Sustainable building encouraged and rating system awards credits for use of recycled aggregates, steel and timber.

• BRANZ : makes available the REBRI documents on its website. These documents provide advice on recovery of C & D waste.

Quality

• Market acceptance: high standards and a consistent product is needed – related to source product quality (sorting and preventing contamination).

• Technical specification: engineers need to be confident to specify recycled products. This will take time, evidence of reliability and achievement of standards.

• Quality is sometimes better: aggregate with cement content compacts better and less cement is needed if used in concrete manufacture.

Legal Framework

• Legislation • Waste Minimisation Act – C&D waste should form

part of WMMPs and some levy funding may be available

• RMA – better enforcement of clean fill consents and plan provisions may encourage more C&D recovery

• Emissions Trading Scheme – what are the implications?

• Incentives and Subsidies

• Levies on landfills create an incentive to recover C&D

waste

Technology • Some technology is well proven and new methods are

being developed. • C&D MRFs: Christchurch will be a first, but there may be

scope for others. Sorting methods are an evolving technology.

• Asphalt: used asphalt can be an input into new asphalt manufacture and reduces cost.

• Treated timber: new technology is required – starved air pyrolysis is an option being explored.

• Concrete: technology is well proven but equipment is often expensive and has high operational costs – potential for technological improvements.

• Plasterboard: recycling plants are in use internationally and technology well proven – potential for NZ?

Practicality

• Construction and Demolition Industries:

• Low margins: C&D waste industries are dealing with low margins and need careful control of costs.

• Recession: Contractors are risk averse and both the supply and demand side of recycling are affected. Limited scope for capital investment.

• Market Acceptance: Needs to be easy to implement (user-friendly).

Case Study - Materials Processing Ltd

• MPL is a well-established company with much experience in recovery of C&D waste.

• MPL operates in several locations in the top half of the North Island including managing all the recycling in Rotorua. They also recycle a large amount of waste from the Kawerau and Kinleith mills that previously used to go to industrial landfills.

• MPL has a portable concrete crushing plant and portable timber hogging plants.

• Waste timber products are used mainly as fuels and one of the recycled concrete products is a concrete aggregate that requires 20% less cement for the same concrete strength characteristics.

Case Study - Materials Processing

Case Study - Materials Processing

Case Study - Green Vision

• Green Vision is a new company formed by three long-standing construction companies: • Downer EDI

• Hiway Stabilisers

• John Fillmore Contracting

• They recycle recovered natural aggregates, stabilised basecourse, concrete, pavers and masonry, asphalt

• They are keen to promote warm asphalt mix (WAM) technology due to lower energy use and lower costs. Recycled asphalt product (RAP) is well suited to WAM.



Mobile concrete crushing and screening

Case Study – Christchurch

• Goal: “Working towards the recovery of Greater Christchurch in a focused timely way” (Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Act 2011)

• Christchurch is a special case due to the extremely large amounts of demolition waste.

• Over 200,000 tonnes have reached the only consented resource recovery site at Burwood and it is estimated that there are at least 20 other un-consented sites receiving C&D waste. (Over 500,000 tonnes of liquefaction silt has also been received)

• Many more buildings are still to be demolished and at least 6000 houses.

• The main demolition goal is to help the recovery and rebuild of Greater Christchurch. Safety, speed (to maintain momentum), and avoidance of negative legacy sites are key components of this goal.

• Lyttelton Port receives C&D waste with no tipping fee but it must be clean C&D waste.


• Transpacific are building a C&D MRF at Burwood although there is concern that much of the valuable waste will have already been removed before reaching the MRF, which will affect profitability.

• The MRF will produce a range of useful product streams. • The treated timber will need special consideration and may be

stored separately for later recovery in case a subsequent use or way of reprocessing can be found.

• Large volumes of timber, metal, concrete and other materials are being recovered at the demolition sites and will not be received by the MRF.

• Other C&D recovery companies are operating in Christchurch crushing concrete, recovering steel and other metals, processing timber etc.

Case Study - Christchurch


Lyttelton Port Reclamation – using demolition waste


A Demolition Waste Mountain at Burwood

The Cleanfill Issue

• Large amounts of C&D waste go to cleanfills. Some are operated well and many not so well and many provide free tipping to fill holes.

• Many are unattended and compliance with regional rules and consents is a problem. In Auckland cleanfills are covered by permitted activity rules in the Regional Plan and these rules are often not well regulated

• According to the MfE Cleanfill Guidelines many C&D materials are not acceptable in cleanfills – eg new asphalt, metals, paint and painted materials, paper and cardboard, treated timber and too much green-waste. Plasterboard can also cause problems – leachate and H2S release.

• The Waste Levy is probably too low to encourage behaviour change regarding waste recycling and as it does not apply to cleanfills the levy encourages further cleanfill use. There are problems, however, with imposing levies on cleanfills.

Summary

There are good reasons to encourage C&D waste recovery – environmental, resource conservation and conservation of landfill space.

So what is standing in the way of it happening?

• Unstable market prices

• Uneven demand

• Free / very cheap disposal alternatives

• Lack of awareness – better information needed and improved market acceptance

Summary

• More incentives needed – eg wider recognition of Green Star programme and more Green Star C&D waste reuse credits

• Wider acceptance needed by consultants specifying products

• Recognition of the issue needed in local authority WMMP’s • Some technological advances needed – eg for treated

timber • Need attitude changes – eg contractors are risk averse. • Christchurch is a special case – the huge volume and

requirement for speed are, to some extent, barriers to recovery of C&D waste but much C&D waste recovery is still happening there.

Why are C&D Waste Recovery Markets Stalling

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