Why This Article Is Important
I’m writing this article as much to vent out my own frustrations as I am to educate others, especially home remodeling contractors, about the creation of waste in the home renovation and remodeling industry. As a home remodeler in Duluth, I hope to have the most impact on remodeling in northern Minnesota as this is where I live and work. Home remodeling, especially kitchen remodeling and bathroom remodeling, has a very significant impact on the size of our landfills. The idea for this article came to me recently while I was at the local refuse center near the airport in Duluth, MN. I frequent Western Lake Superior Sanitary District, better known locally as WLSSD. For various reasons it has a soft spot in my heart – I know, what kind of weirdo has a love of public dumps?! I could go on about why I love this dump but might have to write a wholly separate love poem about that at a later date.
A few years back I was working on a basement remodel in Duluth and had just completed the tear-out of all the components of an old, discolored, foam tile drop ceiling. I packed the ceiling bits and pieces into my 5ft x 8ft trailer and drove it up to the refuse center. As instructed, I separated the metal and cardboard from the rest of the waste and was throwing them into the respective bins. Suddenly, an attendant stopped me and asked “Did you tell the check-in booth staff about your hazardous waste?” I confidently told the attendant that I had no hazardous waste on this run. Before I was done speaking she picked up one of the six fluorescent tube light bulbs that I had on top of the pile of junk in my trailer. She responded, “These have mercury in them and so do the electrical relays screwed into the light fixtures.” I was skeptical. I mean, I had seen so many videos over the years of warehouse workers bashing each other over the heads with these things. These were knowledgeable professionals making the most of their lunch break, how could they be wrong!? I mean, I knew about mercury in old thermometers but what benefit would this liquid metal offer a light bulb or electrical component? Well, it just so happens that mercury can exist as a vapor even at room temperature. When the electricity excites this vapor the reaction is what creates light. So, when one of those bulbs breaks, it lets off highly toxic gas into the air. It is odorless and the effects are not always immediate.
I was educated that day and will forever be much more cautious with fluorescent bulbs and their electrical relays. Especially, ESPECIALLY, while I am working in someone’s home. (I should note at this point that I did not and have never broken one of these bulbs inside of a home. Aside from simply being needlessly destructive, the bulbs are much easier to transport when they aren’t a million shards of glass and white powder). It occurred to me that day that, as a home remodeling contractor, I have the responsibility to conscientiously manage the large amount of waste that I produce. Not only to dispose of all materials properly but also to create less waste and to use installation materials that last longer in a home and shorter in a landfill.
What You Need to Know About the Construction Industry
Now that you have a little back story on the idea that led to this article I want to get on to the intention of this article. I have been to various refuse stations all across Minnesota and the vast majority of them are giant piles of trash that everyone unloads their trucks and trailers next to. These piles are pushed around by skid steers and dump trucks and thrown into a giant, sour-smelling, hole in the ground. I never appreciated the amount of waste humanity creates until I visited one of these places. Day after day, month after month, hundreds and thousands of people visit to dispose of and forget about all the things they no longer have a use for. This is all aside from the tens of thousands of trash bins that are emptied and dumped by contracted services each week. The only supervision at these sites is a gate attendant that takes your cash and a machine operator moving the pile to make way for more garbage. Anyone could get away with dumping anything they want at any time. Paper, metal, plastic, glass, wood, concrete, hazardous waste, etc. are all dumped at these sites to be added to a landfill. And nearly of the things I just listed can be reused or recycled.
Construction Waste Stats
According to the EPA, 23% of the U.S.’s waste stream is from construction and demolition. Our country alone generated six million tons (that’s over 1.2 billion pounds) of construction waste in 2018. That is a 342% increase from 18 years prior. While my business is not even a drop in the bucket – or should I say nail in the landfill – for these statistics, I generate more waste than the average American because of all the demo work I complete. So, just like throwing that cardboard and aluminum into the recycle bin at home; I feel all contractors have a duty to do their part and do the best they can with the outcome of their construction projects. This goes far beyond the demolition process. Contractors should take consideration into the materials they install as well. After all, nothing we install will be there forever and it will eventually become waste.
Materials Management
Vinyl Plank
I’ll start with vinyl plank flooring because it has become so incredibly popular. People like it because it’s relatively cheap, quick, and easy to install, and is unaffected by water and most goings-on in the everyday household. However, vinyl (a PVC product) takes 1,000+ years to decompose and likely more when buried in a landfill. When cut with a saw, the vinyl heats up and produces chlorine gas which can be very harmful when inhaled. If you see someone cutting this stuff with a saw in your home, stop them immediately and call another flooring contractor. On top of that, I feel that it looks cheap and has some longevity issues that I won’t get into here. I much prefer to steer my customers toward engineered hardwood (or solid hardwood if they have the budget for it). Engineered hardwood is priced competitively with laminate flooring and can even be purchased as low as $2/sf. (To compare, the highly popular LifeProof luxury vinyl plank from Home Depot is $4/sf). Engineered hardwood is composed of plywood with a layer of real wood (a veneer) on the surface. This means, when installed, it looks just like real hardwood. As you can imagine, wood flooring is much better for the environment after it is disposed of, it is a sustainable product and looks much better too.
New Construction & Speculation Homes
House flippers and spec. home builders love vinyl products and cheap fixtures with short lifespans. It’s the fastest and most effective way to turn a profit. I recently stopped into a few homes featured in the Twin Cities Parade of Homes. I was incredibly shocked to see that so many of these homes have the lowest-cost finishing materials money can buy. As 99% of my business is in home remodeling, home renovations, and kitchen and bathroom remodels, I do not get to experience the new construction process firsthand very often and was taken back to see vinyl floors covering nearly every square foot of a $600,000 house! The trim work was sub-par, the tile work was rushed, and all the shower stalls were fiberglass. It was apparent to me that the modern-day builders of these “luxury” homes no longer have any intention to create finishings that will last. Anyone buying this home most certainly would have plans to upgrade their floors, bathrooms, kitchens, and trim in the future. That means that all these non-biodegradable materials will be used for a few short years before being added to a landfill. This is happening all across the country on tens of thousands of new homes. This trend offended me. These builders are willing to construct inferior homes that add to the climate problem simply to make more money on an already lucrative business. Aside from the waste issue, it angered me to no end that this is what my generation has to look forward to as far as home-building standards – but I’ll save that rant for a future post.
Shower Installations
Fiberglass shower stalls are synonymous with cheap builds. They take a couple of hours to install, are cheap to purchase, and are almost certain to stop water from penetrating your home. However, they look cheap and last dang near forever in a rubbish pile. Tile is the way to go. Ceramic and porcelain tile is made from natural materials, the manufacturing process produces little waste, no chemicals are involved, they look great and, when installed properly, can last a lifetime. As a tile contractor in Duluth, I may be a tad biased. No doubt, you’ll be paying more upfront for your bathroom remodel or kitchen backsplash if you use tile. On the flip side, you’ll be making a returnable investment into your home. What’s more, you’ll be spending your money on a feature that will stand out to your guests, help sell your home, and (most importantly) make you feel more comfortable in your living space.
Carpet Recycling
Many items can be but often are not recycled by the average project warrior. One of these common waste-contributing products is carpet. When a new family moves into an existing house that old carpet is often the first to go. It is so easy and common to throw old carpet right into a landfill. However, carpet (especially carpet padding) can, and should, be recycled. Currently, in Duluth, the only place I know that will recycle these materials is Hanks Specialties in West Duluth. Unfortunately, Hank’s will only recycle carpet padding (though, they will pay you for it). At this time, I do not know of a place where one can recycle actual carpeting. If you know of a place, please contact me so I can benefit from this service and update this article!
Recycling Concrete
Concrete is another commonly mishandled construction and demolition product. According to the EPA 85% of all United States construction and debris waste was from concrete and asphalt in 2018. On the bright side, 95% of this waste was successfully recycled. Though, I mention this now as I’ve worked with and met many folks who had no idea they could recycle their concrete remnants. WLSSD in Duluth does a great job of catching this and works diligently to ensure all concrete products are recycled properly.
Installation Materials Best Practices
Demolition and overage waste are not the only things we need to take into consideration. The products we chose to install make a big difference down the road. I already mentioned engineered vs hardwood flooring, however, there are other substitutions to common products. that should be considered. Bamboo flooring for instance is very durable, grows quickly, and is less harmful when tossed out than comparable flooring products. Laminated timber, often used as long structural members, is more carbon friendly than standard wood products, bears more weight, and last longer. Mineral wool insulation is much more eco-friendly, on the front end of production as well as the back end (demolition). It has superior insulation properties and incredible sound-dampening properties. When we insulate a bathroom wall or room delimitation, we use mineral wool for these reasons.
There are countless other material considerations to make in this industry. Nearly every project gives us the opportunity to take steps in the right direction; to consider our environment and make this decade greener than the previous one. No doubt being “eco-conscious” is not easy to keep top of mind while on a time crunch and focusing on delivering an affordable and efficient service to your customer, but, it’s important and the workers within this industry have more opportunity to have an effect, positive or negative, than the average earthling.
How to Dispose of Construction Debris
Inevitably, any home renovation project is going to generate waste. It’s the nature of the business. However, there are steps we as contractors and DIY homeowners can take to reduce our footprints. That brings me back to good ole WLSSD. Here the public is welcome to stop by during open hours and, for a very fair fee, dump just about anything they want (see their disposal guide here). The caveat here is that you must sort your garbage, though, they couldn’t make it any easier. Side-by-side rest labeled bins for waste, cardboard, and metal. They have a hazardous waste area as well as an area for electronics and certain appliances. This place does an incredible job organizing the refuse rather than turning it into one huge pile of “trash”. The employees of the facility always seem to be in a great mood and often help you unload or clean up your area after you’ve emptied your vehicle.
My favorite part, however, is their second-hand program. The attendants here keep an eye out for folks who are tossing perfectly good items such as furniture, vanities, sporting equipment, books, kitchen utensils and appliances, decorations, and so on. They’ll take these off your hands for free and organize them in one of several shipping containers. Patrons of the sanitary district are free to take two items for free at each visit. Pro tip: if you’re polite and schmooze with the attendants they may even turn a blind eye to more than two items!
If you’re down in the Twin Cities, I recommend Washington/Ramsey Recycling and Energy. This facility also sorts its patrons’ waste but they go a step further. They burn what they cannot recycle and use the energy created to power homes. That’s right, in 2022 the R&E center burned enough garbage to power 13,000 homes for a full year! In 2022 they also reported recovering 12,869 tons of metal from the trash and avoided what would have been over 95,000 tons of CO2 from going into the atmosphere (had all the refuse been added to a landfill). In a similar fashion, Rochester, MN converts waste to energy at the Olmsted Waste-to-Energy Facility.
Conclusion
There are so many options available today and it is incredibly important to do our best as remodeling contractors and home builders to consider the needs of our customers in tandem with the needs of our environment. If you’re going to build a half-million dollar home, put in some real floors! If you’re going to insulate a wall, spend the extra $10 to use the best product! Encourage your customers to install products that will make them happy for years to come and be open to working with them to meet their budgets if that’s what it takes! After all, we are all sharing this place. We all enjoy a view of Lake Superior and your bottom line should never be the deciding factor in what you install and the care you take in installing it. There is a great opportunity here to not just improve a space but to create art that generations will enjoy.
