Chicago — In response to a growing demand to employ green building technologies, Allied Waste opened a new $8 million Construction and Demolition (C&D) recycling facility on Chicago’s west side. The first of its kind in the metro area, the new facility will operate 24-hours a day and handle up to 1,500 tons daily, the company reports. Employing both automated and manual sorting, the facility boasts a recovery rate of nearly 90 percent of recyclable C&D material.

The facility was created in part to address Chicago’s significant C&D waste stream. In 2006, Chicago implemented a C&D recycling ordinance requiring project owners to recycle 50 percent of C&D debris generated at the site.

According to the U.S. Green Building Council, Chicago is one of the first cities to adopt the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System. LEED certification provides independent, third-party verification that a building project is environmentally responsible, profitable and a healthy place to live and work.

Some Chicago LEED-certified buildings include:

• Target Store, McKinley Park
• 22nd District Police Station
• Cook County Domestic Violence Courthouse
• 71 S. Wacker Drive
• Chicago Center for Green Technology

Contractors who haul their own scrap to landfills are facing higher transportation costs and tipping fees, and those who contract with hauling companies for debris removal are finding fuel surcharges added to their bills. Most of the construction and demolition debris recyclers in the Chicago area accept only source-separated materials, which can add additional costs to the contractor’s disposal bill.

Contractors using Allied’s C&D facility can save money on pickup and hauling costs and eliminate multiple dumpster rentals.

Builders who do not meet (or cannot supply proof of meeting) the city’s 50-percent recycling request can face fines of $1,000 for each percentage point they are short. Allied’s facility is designed specifically to accept co-mingled loads, which lessens the time and labor costs spent sorting debris on the contractor’s jobsite.

Visit www.disposal.com for more information.