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Industrial Materials Recycling Summary
WasteWise & NPEP 2006 Annual Conference:
Partnering for Success in Sustainability
October 19-20, 2006
Arlington, Virginia
Industrial Materials Recycling
Friday, October 20, 2006
Session Leads: Robert Burchard (EPA) & John Thibodeau (ERG)
Introduction
This session explored tools and case studies that show how the recycling
of industrial materials can provide environmental and economic benefits
in NPEP and WasteWise partners' buildings.
Efficient materials management is a priority of EPA's Resource Conservation
Challenge (RCC). Recycling of industrial byproduct materials is a key
part of the RCC. Typically not seen by the general public as part of their
daily lives, these industrial materials that come from manufacturing-slag
from iron and steel production, spent sands from metal casting, pulp from
paper mills, ash from coal combustion, and construction and demolition
debris that can be used or recycled in many types of construction applications.
Using these materials as substitutes for virgin materials conserves natural
resources and can, in some cases, provide performance and economic benefits.
EPA, along with many other organizations, has teamed to promote the environmentally
safe use of these materials as one important part of the growing green
building movement.
Industrial Resources Coalition (IRC) and Its Partners
Jason Harrington
Asphalt Pavement Engineer
Federal Highway Administration
This presentation focused on the scope of IRC and its partnerships with
industry and government. IRC is comprised of seven members in the industrial
byproduct sectors designed to promote the use of products, byproducts,
co-products, or other non-hazardous materials in various industrial activities.
It seeks to stimulate the transfer of information on industrial resources;
participate in the development of specifications for the use of industrial
resources; facilitate awareness and understanding of the environmental,
economic, engineering, manufacturing and societal benefits derived from
the use of industrial materials; and share experiences of effective strategies.
The coalition's partnerships with government and industry play a key role
in IRC's mission.
Currently, IRC, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) are involved in various efforts to encourage beneficial use of industrial materials, including the Coal Combustion Products Partnership program, industrial byproducts summits, development of risk assessment tools, and creating publications and workshops. The FHWA has also developed a Recycled Materials Policy recognizing the need to increase the highway industry's overall use of recycled materials. The policy seeks to ensure recycled materials get the first consideration in overall materials selection, emphasize the importance of the engineering and environmental properties, and remove restrictions prohibiting the use of the materials that are without technical basis. The presentation ended with a brief discussion of EPA's Green Highways Partnership, noting the significant impact the construction of transportation systems can have on the environment and how quality and cost can be maintained or enhanced while meeting technical performance standards by using industrial byproducts.
EPA WasteWise Conference
Ron Korcak, Ph.D.
Associate Director
Beltsville Agricultural Research Center
USDA, Agricultural Research Service
Beneficial Use of Waste Foundry Sands
Robert S. Dungan, Ph.D.
Soil Scientist
Environmental Management & Byproduct Utilization Laboratory
Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, Maryland
Representatives from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural
Research Center (USDA-ARS) spoke to attendees on beneficial use initiatives
undertaken by the department. Ron Korcak provided an overview of department
and the beneficial uses of flue gas desulphurization (FGD). Dr. Korcak
noted that the largest use of FGD is in gypsum wallboard. It has been
found that the beneficial use of industrial byproducts is a key regulatory
issue and must be addressed. Dr. Korcak went on to describe the beneficial
uses the USDA has examined in recycling scrap wallboard and found it has
both chemical and physical benefits in the environment. The reuse of gypsum
and gypsum wallboard in soils provides a high phosphorous content and
reduces the aluminum toxicity while also reducing surface water runoff
and increasing water infiltration.
Robert Dungan provided an in-depth presentation on the beneficial use
of waste foundry sand. Throughout the presentation, Dr. Dungan gave an
overview of what foundry sand is composed of, its beneficial uses, and
the USDA-ARS Foundry Sand Initiative. The beneficial uses of the sand
include being used in manufactured soils (topsoil, potting soils, and
turf mixes) and geotechnical applications (flowable fill, structural fill,
asphalt, and cement). The foundry industry generates roughly 10 million
tons of sand per year-with only 10 percent being beneficially used outside
the foundry. Congress mandated a research program, the Foundry Sand Initiative,
to address this lack of beneficial use. USDA-ARS is working in cooperation
with the Ohio State University, the Pennsylvania State University, Purdue
University, and Foundry Industry Recycling Starts Today (FIRST) to address
agricultural and horticultural uses of waste foundry sands while determining
if they can be safely used in the environment. Current research seeks
to characterize organics and metals in ferrous and aluminum foundry sands,
assess the uptake of trace metals by plants, and determine the movement
of potential organics and metals in the sands and blended products. Dr.
Dungan noted the need for beneficial use guidelines for foundry sand as
many states are not currently supporting beneficial uses, there are no
comprehensive documents on the subject, and there is a lack of understanding
regarding the sands and their chemical composition. By providing beneficial
use guidelines for foundry sands, there will be positive impacts across
the board, ranging from a streamlined approval process to a more competitive
U.S. foundry industry versus foreign markets.
Construction Waste Management/Recycling
Ellen Larson Vaughn
Contractor
Steven Winter Associates, Inc.
To promote the responsible recycling of construction and demolition waste
in the United States, the General Services Administration's Public Building
Service created an online database of recyclers to increase opportunities
for construction recycling in its 8,700 owned and leased buildings. The
GSA contracted with Steven Winter Associates, a building system consulting
firm, to improve the database functionality, increase visibility of the
Whole Building Design Guide (WBDG), and increase the number of listings
in the database. Through this partnership, the association developed the
Construction Waste Management Database, a national, online database of
companies that haul, collect, and process recyclable debris from construction
projects. The database has been updated with new features, and provides
free and unlimited online searching for recyclers by location and by 21
commonly recycled materials. The Construction and Demolition Waste Recycling
database is located on the WBGD 
, a government sponsored Web-based portal
to information and resources on "whole building" techniques
and technologies.