May 2011

The C&D Report Card

The economic downturn has inhibited construction and lessened C&D receipts. Still, there are encouraging signs, particularly in the area of woodwaste, that a turnaround could be at hand.

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Since the economic downturn, home and commercial building is down; therefore, construction waste is also at lower levels. In some quarters, however, demolition waste has taken a slight uptick, as foreclosed/deteriorating homes have been leveled. Older cities such as Cleveland and Detroit have seen entire neighborhoods disappear. The economic stimulus package, which has concentrated on infrastructure/public works, has also increased waste of asphalt, concrete, and rebar—but no one’s planning on celebrations and bonuses just yet.

Monster Machines Stay Strong
“We’ve seen some steadiness, in some portions of the C&D market,” says operations manager Brian Bergman, of CW Mill Equipment Co. Inc. in Sabetha, KS. “Our established customer base seems to be doing well. We’re not seeing as many new starts in that portion, but the work seems steady. In areas of the country where there are fuel buyers, wood is a precious commodity; we’ve seen some growth there. Those who are separating it out, are finding ways to prosper in today’s world.” Mainly in its HogZilla brand, CW Mill has been manufacturing top-quality electric and diesel-powered grinders for over 30 years.

“We make anything dealing with grinders—people mostly think about wood when thinking about grinders, but we also make asphalt shingle grinders,” Bergman goes on. “Anything dealing with recycling is on the upturn, because there’s money to be made by being able to draw those resources back out of the trash. Most operations grab any scrap steel when pulling out the wood. In today’s world, fuel buyers are more selective—they’re raising the bar on how clean they want the material. They want good, clean product, no nails, no finishes.”

A site’s grinder digests the wood in small pieces and uses magnetic separation to remove any nails from wood. “Nonferrous metals present a greater challenge; those have to be sorted out by other means, sometimes by hand. If the wood product is going into a high-temperature furnace, the nonferrous metals might burn away; there’s also a chance the grinder might also deal with them.

“Every fuel buyer’s preference can be different,” Bergman notes. “The wood products might be ground to mulch size, as buyers may have different preferences on size, due to their feeder systems. Most wood products are for boiler fuel; in some regions, wood may be burned by electric power companies. Burning wood for power generation is a regional thing—not all areas of the country have the ability to burn wood.”

Where the power plant is located usually determines what kind of fuels can be used. “In heavily forested areas, where wood chips are available, it makes sense to burn wood. There, you’d also see more privatized boilers, like in sawmill operations, which may make their own electricity. But if you’re in an area with a coal-fired plant, where there are no wood operations nearby, chances are the wood won’t be purchased.”

But sometimes, if you grind it, they will come. “Why not use something readily available? When some firms begin grinding woodwaste, boiler use can go up—and demand for C&D waste might increase. For areas that can support it, private electricity generation is beginning to grow.”

Bergman offers a local example. “A Frito-Lay operation near here has put in a boiler system. Instead of woodwaste being mulched down, they burn it, generating their own energy, which means mulch is in short supply. This has an impact on the C&D industry, because tree trimmers can’t keep up with the demand. Due to their size, large trees can end up with C&D, instead of yardwaste. And tree trimmers might get money from Frito-Lay for their waste, instead of having to pay to dump it.”

Of course, not all C&D waste can become fuel. “Plastics and plaster don’t go in there, and all fuel buyers will be sensitive to a degree about finished—painted or varnished—wood.” Bergman also notes that other organic material is being used as fuel: “Switchgrass is being pelletized for fuel, but other silage is still being used as feed. Of course, pelletizing won’t likely catch on in the C&D industry, as we don’t want stray nails, et cetera, in the stream.”

Wood seems well in-hand. What about other C&D waste? “Asphalt shingles go for road asphalt creation. There’s been an uptick on recycling shingles, but I don’t know if it’s because of the jobs bill. I think it’s because of the cost of disposing of asphalt.”

Bergman sums up how he sees the industry: “In today’s world the C&D industry is rather complex, and people in the industry vary widely in their target markets. Generally, there are many recent success stories, but each will vary to a degree, as most of the successful participants have developed their own unique niche market in their area. A sizable piece of the C&D industry has a dependency on the demand for recovered/recycled products. As one example, more systems have gone in around the country to burn wood for energy from hog-fuel [ground wood], and often a shortage of hog-fuel is created in those areas, which opens up the potential of that market to select grades of processed wood from C&D. Compliance with the buyer’s expectations is the key to successfully participating in any market, as it all comes down to producing desired products profitably.”

“We had other machines in the beginning,” says Dan McAuliffe, owner/president of Snohomish, WA’s United Recycling Co. “Our CW Mill machine was a replacement. I love it—CW Mill machines don’t wear out. You do replace parts sometimes, that’s expected. But you can replace parts in that machine. In some other machines, when they’re worn out, they’re worn out—because components are welded on machines.

“Our CW Mill grinder is a mobile unit,” he goes on. “We could use a stationary unit, to tell the truth, but it’s nice to be able to move it around in our facility, to where the materials are.”

McAuliffe’s firm, which has been in operation for 15 years, has experienced changes in the C&D recycling field. “Our industry’s unpredictable; just when you think you have it figured out, you’re wrong. In early 2011, we saw a little less demolition waste, and a little more waste from home improvements. But by the same token, we’ve seen more recyclables caused by water damage from someone not living in the house—broken pipes, for example. When we see demolition debris, it’s ‘dirty’—people left furnishings, et cetera, in houses when they abandoned them. However, I didn’t see much of a change in receipts when the home construction market dropped; my forté isn’t recycling from new construction. We specialize in post-industrial and commercial recyclables.”

To ensure it gets the debris it wants, United Recycling does outreach: “We educate suppliers, letting them know what debris we want, and how we want it.” The firm operates a collection facility, offers pickup service, and accepts self-haul. “Recyclables come in, are weighed, and handled on the tipping floor. We use various sorting methods to end up with quality recyclables, which we weigh again. We keep track of recycling ratios, by day, month, and year.”

Some items, such as cardboard, papers, and plastics, are compacted, baled, and shipped to other facilities. “We prepare our metal, but we don’t grind it, we bale it. We take in a lot of wood, and grind it, down to 2 to 4 inches, which goes to be burned for electricity. On the horizon are some other things to do with recycled wood, but for now, cogeneration works well.” United Recycling also makes mulch, not from industrial waste, but only from urban wood—waste from landscapers, or city forestry crews, for examples.

Using another grinder, United Recycling recycles some plastics for reuse in packaging. “We also wash and grind plastic into pellets, to sell it within the US. Much plastic gets recycled and sent to overseas. However, if you can take the material to finished product—pellets—it can be used here. Our plastics usually don’t go back to be used for food products, but for other applications.”

Asphalt shingles don’t get reused in Washington. “The state isn’t friendly to recycling them yet,” McAuliffe says. “Since the state is using our new Superpave, that almost makes it impossible to recycle shingles. Oregon and Idaho are more friendly to using recycled shingles in roads, but it may be costly to ship that out of state. Here, you have to ship trash over a mountain range, which gets costly.”

Business Is a Little Better
“There are lots more people separating and recycling,” says Pat Crawford, vice president of product development for Caldwell, ID’s Diamond Z. “There’s an economic benefit to diverting items from the landfill.” In addition to its solid waste grinders, Diamond Z also manufactures tub, horizontal, enclosed, and tire grinders.

“As for C&D waste, there’s not as much raw material available, because there’s less construction and demolition going on,” Crawford says. “Yes, there’s still a fair amount of demolition going on, due to revitalization, but it has slowed. But in greenwaste, to make mulch, cogeneration, et cetera, products have become fairly scarce.”

Due to this scarcity, Crawford sees wood buyers become less choosy. “Even if it’s painted and treated, some cogeneration places will take it, because there’s less of it. I’ve been doing this since 1991, and can’t remember getting this many calls for fuels. Before ’91, people were taking wood to burners, begging plants to take it, so the price was low. Now, there’s not as much available, and the plants are begging for it. Europe is moving toward more renewable fuel—mainly, pelletized woodwaste.”

What happens with the remainder of C&D waste? “When you grind drywall, it goes back into powder. Gypsum can be used for cattle bedding; it keeps their feet dry. As for drywall’s paper backing, some will grind it, so they can make new board from it—others screen the paper out, which can go into landfills. However, the drywall has to be fairly clean—no contaminants or metals—and magnets will take off the metal strips, nails, and screws. Green board and fire board can’t be reused.”

Crawford’s inventory is high. “With the economy screeching to a halt, there was already an inventory backlog of equipment. It will be a while before sales are back up to where it was several years ago. Industrywide, the business climate is definitely improved from a year ago, but not solved by any means.”

Biomass May Be the Best Way
“We still haven’t seen an upswing; for the last three years, the economy’s been bad,” says Jason Morey, marketing manager for Remus, MI’s Bandit Chippers. “With all this new biomass talk, we developed new technology for our grinders; it’s what customers are looking for. The last two or three years, we’ve sold more machines for biomass than for the C&D industry. Even in the mulch market there’s been a decline.”

Morey says the forestry industry, land clearers, or loggers, are using Bandit machines to make woodwaste smaller, then sending it to biomass plants to burn for energy. “Hammer Pellet in West Virginia is using our Beast model to make pellets. Almost all our units going overseas are for biomass; in Europe they use straw, as well as wood, for biomass.”

Bandit, which has been in business since 1983, began by manufacturing brush chippers. The company’s Beast Recycler was introduced in 1996, and a stump grinder line in 2004. “We now offer four models of the Beast, at power ratings from 213 to 1,200 horsepower. We make towable and track units—also stationary electric units. In 2007 Bandit came out with a line of forestry mowers, which can mow over trees 8 inches in diameter. At the same time, these mowers will mulch the trees into fine material—perfect for right-of-way and small-brush clearing.”

These days, the Bandit Beasts don’t munch much C&D waste. “Mostly biomass is our slant now. It’s slowed down in past months, but it might pick back up,” Morey hopes.

New Rules in New England
C&D waste recycling is more important in some eastern states. “In wide-open spaces—large, sparsely populated states like Montana—landfill space might not be difficult to find. But, in smaller, more populous states, where there’s no land, they’re yelling,” says systems engineer Shane Carpenter, of Newton, NH’s Continental Biomass Industries (CBI). “New Hampshire landfills are filling up, and we build our homes with wood—there has to be recycling. In Massachusetts and New Hampshire, you have to process C&D waste before anything goes to the landfill.”

But there’s a problem. “The state governments didn’t think of what to do with the stuff they took out,” Carpenter says. “Some states can’t burn it. In Massachusetts you can’t use it to mulch. So, these materials are driven up to Maine or Canada, where they burn or mulch it. What does that do for one’s carbon footprint? Sometimes governments won’t let us use alternative technology—but we can burn C&D woodwaste cleanly! Plus, 40% to 50% of the C&D wastestream is wood—25% is clean wood. Will someone take it for biomass? Fuel? Mulch?”

Carpenter goes through the list of what comes out. “You have to pull out metal and heavy plastics—for example, HDPE buckets, like those joint compound comes in. You have to separate out aggregate, which includes concrete and asphalt, along with cardboard and wood. Wood is further separated. There’s ‘A’ wood, which is untreated, almost like new lumber—and ‘B’ wood, which is wood that’s been treated, stained, or painted. Asphalt shingles are getting a lot of play today,” he goes on. “They’re pulled out of the wastestream and usually aren’t commingled with other C&D waste, because they can be ground up to make roads.”

C&D waste looks different than it did five years ago, according to Carpenter. “Today’s C&D waste is a lot dirtier and nastier than it was a few years back, when the building boom was going on. In today’s economic climate, some demolitions come from evictions, where people have just left the house with furniture in it, and crews might not remove that stuff before demolition.”

CBI’s overall stationary system shredder is one component of several. “Our machines are part of complete sorting lines,” he explains. “It’s no small investment to purchase stationary equipment. It costs a lot to install and maintain, and a lot of times there’s not a lot of money out there in budgets to purchase them.

“We make our own shredder. Twelve or 13 years ago, we brought in a prototype from overseas; it failed miserably. We then designed and made the Annihilator shredder—115,000 pounds of sheer energy! One of our machines was in use after Hurricane Katrina; we put an entire destroyed boatyard through it. It’s a slow-speed shredder—30 rpm. It features an anvil door on the shredder, and a massive grinding chamber. Competitors’ shredders sometimes make end products too small, meaning sorted-out items—metal, wood, et cetera—don’t get picked properly. Our automated door allows users to adjust the size of material, so they can make a larger end product.”

CBI’s business is looking up. “2009 was the worst year we ever had—sales were 50% off the mark; I think everyone felt that pain. But in 2010—it was like a green light went on, we had an uptick in business. On the stationary grinder side, it was the best year we ever had. We also work overseas; 50% of our business is from Europe and South America. We’re ready to hire for a second shift.”

Carpenter thinks CBI’s personal service has much to do with the company’s success. “We’re still a ‘mom and pop’ operation. We’re a one-stop shop, and put lots of energy into engineering—CBI has 14 engineers on staff. We do all manufacturing of components, as well as install and then maintain them. All employees take a lot of pride in their work. As our boss says, ‘For the most part it’s easy to get a customer in the door; it’s harder to keep them—that comes with service.’”

Quality and service got Bill Thomson, one owner of North Andover, MA–based Thomson Brothers Industries, in CBI’s door. When Massachusetts banned C&D waste from landfills, Thomson’s hauling firm decided to open a C&D recycling facility. “When during the planning stage, I toured many C&D recycling facilities around the country, to see what machines were being used and how they worked. I chose to go with CBI. You get what you pay for—CBI is a premium price, but you get a premium product.”

Thomson’s firm, which accepts waste from its own hauling company as well as from third parties, opted for CBI’s entire system. “We have CBI’s Annihilator shredder, screens, conveyors, and picking station. We don’t sort wood; it’s physically picked off the belt. CBI’s line is designed that way, for a ‘positive pick.’ The wood goes to a papermill in Maine to be burned in its boiler.” Many of the items that come into Thomson’s site are transferred to third parties. “We take the metal to a scrapyard, for recycling; concrete goes to a firm which crunches it up and uses it for road bases. We don’t see many asphalt shingles; there’s an infrastructure in the state for these items, so other firms usually get shingles. Any cardboard we get goes to a local papermill.”

Home foreclosures and subsequent demolition brought in some “messy” waste. “When the market really took a tumble, we were seeing a lot of cleanouts, like people left everything in the house when they left. Now, we’re seeing more typical ‘renovation work’ debris.

“Gypsum wallboard we also separate out,” he goes on. “A recycler takes it from us if it’s new wall board, not painted. We don’t want old wallboard, as there might be asbestos in the joint compound. We once had some suspect material come in; we had to have it tested. If it had contained asbestos, we would have had to put it into asbestos landfills.”

Thomson is pleased with CBI and its equipment. “We have been thrilled with their products’ quality and CBI’s support. As we’re located near CBI, they sometimes bring potential customers to view our system. We tell them: ‘We turn it on, run it, shut it off—no problems! We’re very happy with it.’ As can happen with any machine, we had a couple of small little things go wrong. An I-beam went through the Annihilator, and it nicked an internal sensor wire. But CBI came out the next day, and made a new guard for that area of the machine, to eliminate this in the future. Then, they incorporated that change into the next machine’s design.”

A New Player on the Scene
Although its Austria-based parent company has been selling shredders in the US for about a dozen years, Lindner America LLC opened its Raleigh, NC, office in 2010.

“I haven’t noticed the downturn, but the vast majority of our shredder sales is not in the C&D waste segment,” explains Andreas Schwarz, president of Lindner America LLC. “There are units being sold for ‘waste to energy’ plants, a segment that’s larger in Europe, but growing here.”

The parent company’s waste-to-fuel segment grew after a 2005 European Union restriction on landfills. “Only 5% of waste goes into landfills,” he explains.

“This restriction is a matter of limited space, as well as encouraging recycling. By contrast, the US’ wide-open spaces have, in the past, made ‘trash transfer’ the easier solution,” Schwarz says. “But we’re seeing more interest in trash-to-energy—it’ll be a matter of economics. Not only are some states closing their doors to ‘imported’ trash, but also, with the jump in vehicle fuel costs, most firms can’t afford to ship trash.”

Lindner produces various sizes of shredders. “Our two main customer bases are those who do ‘primary’ shredding, the first shredding of very large pieces, which are then usually moved on to others, and the ‘secondary’ shredders, firms which shred even smaller and make fuel from waste. Customers who buy our small shredders are often in the plastics industry. They shred used or flawed plastics, which are in turn used make new plastics.”

Schwarz sees C&D waste as a growth area for Lindner’s US business. “We have sold two shredders to US waste-to-energy plants, which are under construction. We’re also in the process of selling a shredder to one C&D waste facility.”

The economy, or lack thereof, has changed C&D waste. “Tip rates are lower than what they were at the peak of house construction, and the C&D waste recycling industry is evolving. It’s encouraging to see recycling in other areas of the country, although, in some areas, tipping fees are so cheap, recycling doesn’t come up. But one wants to say to them, ‘Let’s be green—let’s reuse that waste!’”

Established in 1994, the Construction Materials Recycling Association (CMRA), located in Eola, IL, promotes the safe and economically feasible recycling of the 325 million-plus tons of recoverable C&D materials generated annually in the United States. Which came first—the organization, or the industry?

“The industry came first,” says CMRA Executive Director William Turley. “We can trace its roots to post–World War II, when the Germans established concrete recycling. They had so much rubble, recycling seemed the logical choice.” And, despite all the other materials recycled, concrete, by weight, is the most recycled C&D item in the US today.

“We have seen a downturn in C&D waste, because of the economy,” Turley says. “Although, infrastructure work is picking up, and there’s still a demand for the products that can come in with C&D waste. There’s a recent growth of asphalt shingle recycling, which is made into hot-mix asphalt, to make into pavement.” At present, few areas in the US require recycling. “Massachusetts prohibits C&D waste from landfills; however, there’s a ‘driver’ for C&D recycling—green building. Even in places with low tipping fees, you see recycling, because many builders want to ‘go green.’”

Turley’s organization, which offers meetings and seminars to its members, sponsors an ongoing shingle-recycling program. “We’re also working on drywall recycling, which is difficult to process. It can work anywhere, but right now there are limited markets for it. Those who do recycle prefer clean drywall.”

Stable Pricing in the Offing
Jim Walker, president and owner of Los Angeles, CA’s Olympic Wire and Equipment, hasn’t seen much recent growth in C&W waste recycling. “Sales are somewhat down. There are people looking to ramp up and purchase C&D lines, but no one is stepping up to the plate. I haven’t seen the government’s stimulus package make much effect. Stable pricing is the only result we’ve seen; there have been maybe some increases in commodities, which might stimulate processing.” Olympic Wire and Equipment distributes and provides service, repair, and installations of C&D waste recycling equipment manufactured by Salem, OR’s West Salem Machinery.

Walker’s customers mainly grind waste to reduce volume. “They chop up the wood and separate metals, ferrous from nonferrous. I haven’t seen clients shredding asphalt shingles; sometimes they pull those out and take them to someone who specializes in that. There are quite a few markets for the shredded wood; some burn it. My clients grind wood into small chips they can sell to various industries. Others just make it somewhat smaller so they can get it to the next processor.”

The processes have changed. “Five years ago, they were more concerned with getting recyclable items out, but then 20% of the waste was still going to landfills. Sorting used to be accomplished with manual labor, but now many firms are reducing labor, becoming more automated, adding disc screens, et cetera.”

Other commercial waste is being diverted. “No polystyrene is going to landfills; Los Angeles County banned Styrofoam cups. Packaging styrene is easier to control; we won’t see that disappear soon. But many furniture deliverers will take the packing—cardboard and styrofoam—back to their site and bale it there, rather than have consumers deal with it.”

Author's Bio: Janis Keating is a frequent contributor to Forester Media, Inc. publications.