WasteCap Aims to Upgrade State's C&D Recycling Program

WasteCap & the DFDM are gathering support & feedback to upgrade the successful State of Wisconsin Department of Administration Construction & Demolition program. Please read about the program, show support and provide feedback. 

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About the Program

Since 2006, WasteCap has worked with the Division of Facilities Development & Management (DFDM) to implement the State Commission's Sustainable Facilities Policy. The policy stated, in part, that:

“The Department of Administration shall develop and implement guidelines and minimum standards to incorporate environmentally responsible and sustainable concepts and practices into the planning, design, construction, operation and maintenance of all state facilities,” and that, “ The Department shall report annually on the implementation of this policy.”

The policy was created to promote and ensure that state facilities be constructed and renovated in a sustainable manner. In 2007, WasteCap was asked by the DFDM to help develop comprehensive Construction Waste Management (CWM) specifications that would help the state reach its construction waste diversion goals as set forth in its new policy. 

In 2010, after two years of pilot studies and preparation, DFDM instituted a requirement that all demolition projects and all new construction projects with a capital budget of $5 million or more divert at least 50 percent of their project construction waste from landfills and report their recycling activities on a monthly basis.  DFDM engaged WasteCap to administer the new CWM provision and to create an online tracking system to collect waste reduction data and report it. 

The standards set to reduce, reuse, salvage, and recycle construction & demolition debris has helped the State of Wisconsin's Department of Administration minimize project costs and negative environment impacts on behalf of all Wisconsinites. 

IMPACT

From 2010 to 2018, the program has:

• Reduced total disposal costs by $7.35 million
• Diverted 296,812 tons of material from the landfill
• Reduced greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) by 224,890 MT CO2e
  • Equivalent to removing 51,557 cars off the road annually​
• Saved the material industry 2,078 billion BTU’s of energy through recycling processes
  • Equivalent to powering 18,885 homes annually 
• Saved 265,000 trees and 109 million gal. of water through recycling wood & cardboard

Below is a table of recent projects completed in the last four years. 

Reasons for the upgrade

Specifically, we hope the program will be upgraded in the following ways:

1. Update the specifications for required project
     a. Increase the landfill diversion rate from 50% to 75% per project
     b. Lower the capital budget threshold from $5 million to $3 million

These changes will result in more material being diverted from landfill and include more projects that are required to track waste diversion data.

​2. Increase Project Management Oversight

More oversight is needed to ensure that all required projects meet the landfill diversion rate required in the specifications. In the table above, a few projects failed to meet the required diversion rate, and a few others had questionably high diversion rates.  Additional oversight would allow for the WasteCap to step in to help lagging projects, and provide oversight on projects which may be incorrectly reporting.Increased oversight, especially during the project planning phases, will preemptively solve issues related to C&D waste management. 

3. Switch the software from WasteCap TRACE to Re-Trac Connect
     a. Utilize WasteCap Resource Solutions' exclusive partnership
     b. WasteCap will enable and support the Resource Directory feature to increase transparency for approved haulers, processors, and end-destinations. 

WasteCap will sunset the WasteCap TRACE software and has engaged in a exclusive regional partnership with Re-Trac Connect. The statewide C&D program will benefit from using an industry-leading software that will save time with data entry, reduce errors through its smart programming features, and provide more robust reporting. Additionally, the resource directory will help identify where materials can be diverted based on the project's location and vicinity to landfill diversion outlets. 

If you support these efforts or have feedback to provide, please complete the form(s) below:  

Support FORM

FEEDBack FORM

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