Waste Services in DC Area & Reporting Waste Diversion in Unregulated States

Steven Burke

Senior Director, Sustainability

Suffolk Construction

LEEDuser Basic Member

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June 21, 2018

Can anyone recommend waste haulers and processing facilities that are LEED compliant for processing commingled waste in the DC / MD area?

I know this is the Sustainable Construction Leaders and not the LEED Construction Leaders, but with waste management being such a big part of what we do, I wanted to crowd source a request for help.

In MA, our facilities are regulated by the state, which means we can use their annual diversion rates as compliant for LEED. We also work in CT, NY, and VA, all of which are states which do not have state regulated / verified diversion rates for processing facilities.

If you're in a state like this which isn't regulating processing facilities, and you know comingled waste on your LEED job is being evaluated using visual inspections, and you know visual inspections are not LEED-compliant, what do you do? On my DC projects, I'm sending waste to MD facilities that give me "project specific" rates using visual inspection. These facilities also have annual diversion rates, but they are in the 25 - 35% range, which directly conflicts the 75 - 85% visual inspection project specific rates I receive.

I have tried reading about this on LEEDuser, but I really don't care about all the gobbledygook in the reference guide, I I just want to know if anyone has direct, actionable solutions. Thanks!

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Beth Giltner

Senior Sustainability Specialist

rand* construction corporation

LEEDuser Basic Member

0 thumbs up

Thu, 06/21/2018 - 17:11

Hi Steven, I can help you as the majority of our LEED work is in DC. I highly recommend Selective Hauling, as we've been working very closely with them to ensure v4 compliance. We've also provided them a list of all the qualified and compliant facilities and the materials accepted and recycled at each. You can reach out to Jill Sorenson (JSorenson@capitolselectco.com), and she will be able to help. Just tell her I gave you her name, and she'll jump right on it. I will let you know that unfortunately the only way we've been able to achieve the Waste Management credit for v4 is by implementing single stream diversion from jobsites, which includes taking our drywall to either Delaware or Pennsylvania. We've accomplished this a variety of ways, including building wood bins to place within dumpsters and then hauling each material individually to the various facilities. Of course this is not ideal in terms of carbon, but based on GBCI guidance and experience on several v4 projects at this point, it has been the only way to achieve these points. Since DC is mainly a comingled, visual inspection market you have to go to extreme measures. Please let me know if you have any additional questions. Thank you, Beth

Michael Deane

Retired VP, Chief Sustainability Officer

Turner Construction

LEEDuser Premium Member

1 thumbs up

Thu, 06/21/2018 - 18:18

Check out the recycling certification Institute (RCI) (https://www.recyclingcertification.org/certified-facilities/). This organization exists to certify recycling rates and avoid “sham recyclers.” This has been slow to take off due to its rigor, but is making strides. There is currently one facility in MD and one in VA (DC area) that are certified. Contact Steven Bantillo (Exec Dir) for more information. (stephen.bantillo@gmail.com). (916.242.8287). Full disclosure: I am on their BOD. Michael Fro