(ARA) - When it comes to recycling, every little bit counts. Individuals have come to recognize that even though it may seem like a small thing, every newspaper, aluminum can and glass bottle they recycle from their household helps keep landfills from filling up and reduces the impact we have on the environment.

Imagine recycling on a larger scale -- say, the scale of a major league football stadium.

The construction industry faces recycling challenges on a large scale every day. Increasingly, contractors are finding innovative ways to work with environmental protection groups, local authorities and other businesses to recycle materials, rehabilitate contaminated areas, and preserve wetlands and other habitats for wildlife -- as well as people.

Members of the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) have taken the lead in many major recycling projects. Contractors, like individuals, know that recycling makes sense because it saves natural resources and reduces waste; it's more cost-effective since contractors pay no landfill fees and have lower expenses for new raw materials; and it creates new jobs and new business. In fact, the recycling market can produce 10 times more jobs in the construction industry for the same cost as sending waste to the landfill.

AGC members are voluntarily incorporating environmental stewardship into their day-to-day operations by providing construction site training, developing environmental risk management practices, using pollution prevention and conservation techniques and reusing and recycling construction waste, often on-site.

Seattle's Kingdome

Built in 1976, Seattle's Kingdome was home to major league teams for more than 20 years. To make room for a new college stadium, in March 2000, the Kingdome came down. Before demolition, fixtures were auctioned to raise funds or donated to local non-profits, and the roof and other materials that would have harmed the environment were removed. The goal was to recycle at least 85 percent of the remaining material.

The giant pile of rubble was sorted into concrete, asphalt, steel re-bar, wood and glass. Large boulders were recycled off-site and used for erosion control, while smaller pieces of concrete and asphalt were ground to fine gravel and used on-site to raise the grade for the new stadium. The on-site recycling not only saved wear and tear on Seattle's streets, since the heavy waste did not have to be hauled to landfills, but also saved more than $3 million in construction costs. Of the 128,250 tons of waste created when the Kingdome was demolished, only 3,420 tons were sent to landfills.

Denver's Stapleton Airport

Billed as the "world's largest recycling project," the demolition and redevelopment of Denver's Stapleton Airport has generated world-wide interest. Stapleton, which served as Denver's primary airport for more than 60 years, was replaced by a new airport in 1995.

Once it was decided that the site would be redeveloped as a "city within a city," including homes, businesses, schools and open space, an AGC contractor, Recycled Materials Company, Inc. (RMC), was given six years to remove the concrete and asphalt runways that average 24 inches thick and cover 975 acres -- the equivalent of nearly 10,000 miles of two-lane highway.

A potentially major issue in the project was overcoming the perception that recycled concrete is an inferior product. . But studies done by the Colorado School of Mines confirmed that in most uses, recycled concrete and asphalt are not only as good as new, but in some cases, better. "We have broken the recycle barrier," says Rick Givan, operations manager for RMC. "Not only does it work, it's better." The scope and efficiency of the Stapleton project have attracted the interest of major contractors around the world, including a group from Russia that visited the site to learn about RMC's methods and apply them to projects at home.

Around the nation

Contractors across the nation are increasingly rising to the challenge of projects that are environmentally sensitive. For instance, in Oakland, Calif., the California Department of Transportation identified a site to be redeveloped as a neighborhood park. However, the site contained debris including tires, batteries, compressed gas cylinders and scrap metal. Soil had been contaminated by pesticides including chlordane and DDT. AGC member Performance Excavators, Inc., (PERF-EX), removed the debris and the contaminants from the soil while monitoring air quality and using dust control measures to keep any contaminants from nearby homes. Workers were suited in appropriate gear and trucks hauling contaminated dirt were restricted from several local streets to protect the neighborhood. The end result was a safe community park that included irrigation, plants, shrubs, underground utilities, pathways, fencing, play equipment and park furnishing.

Another AGC member, Alwood of Clarksville, W.Va., reclaimed an abandoned coal preparation facility. The facility had nine water treatment ponds, several full of slurry from eroded coal mines; 30 acres of toxic coal refuse; and a half-mile of dangerous highwall. Surface water that migrated through the coal refuse caused toxic levels of acid and metals to be leached into waterways downstream. Alwood installed more than 8,000 feet of ditches to help move the water to two newly-constructed wetlands. Five old water treatment ponds were eliminated and two stormwater retention ponds were reconstructed to regulate outflow and control flooding. The wetlands also promote precipitation of leached-out metals, which has significantly improved water quality downstream.

The construction industry as a whole recycles more material than any other industry. New technology, creative thinking and concerns for the environment have all combined to make recycling just another part of the work day on construction job sites all over the country.

To learn more about AGC and the construction industry's recycling efforts, visit www.agc.org/Environmental_Info/Recycle_This.asp. Additional environmental success stories highlighting AGC member efforts to preserve and / or rehabilitate the environment can be viewed online at www.agc.org/Environmental_info/env_solutions.asp.

Courtesy of ARA Content