Waste Prevention Information Exchange

Building Design and Construction

This topic also addresses the subjects "green building" and "sustainable building."

Also see Health Care Building Design and Construction.

Table of Contents

CalRecycle Programs and Services

CalRecycle Publications

Other Resources

• Other Documents
• Websites

Building Subtopics

• Carpet

CalRecycle Programs and Services

• Sustainable Building—Using resources efficiently while creating healthier buildings. The following is a sample of some of CalRecycle's involvement in this broad and rapidly developing field.
  • Collaborative for High Performance Schools (CHPS)—Nearly 6.2 million children, teachers, and administrators, or 1/5 of California's population, spend their day inside a school. Design and the construction are essential to highly performing schools.
  • Construction and Demolition Debris Recycling—Construction and demolition (C&D) materials account for almost 12 percent of the waste stream. C&D recycling is a stable market with room for expansion. C&D materials can include lumber, paper, cardboard, metals, masonry (brick, concrete, etc.), carpet, plastic, pipe (plastic, metal, and clay), drywall, rocks, dirt, and green waste related to land development.
    • Construction and Demolition Debris Recyclers Directory—Facilities that collect specific types of construction and demolition debris for reuse or recycling.
    • Recycled-Content Building Products—This section of the Recycled Content Product Directory lists manufacturers of recycled-content building products.
  • Green Building Basics—The essentials of sustainable buildings.
  • Guidelines, Rating Systems, and Specifications—Green building performance standards are the benchmark for building performance.
  • Sustainable Building Toolkit—Resources for sustainable building.

CalRecycle Publications

CalRecycle has either printed or Web publications on this topic that you can find at either our publication search page or our main search page. However, not all of these publications apply to "waste prevention" in the most literal use of that term. CalRecycle publications that do apply to waste prevention include:

• Construction/Demolition—A list of CalRecycle publications on this subject.
• Plastic Lumber
  • Recycled Plastic Lumber: Research and Development
  • Recycled Plastic Lumber Resource List
  • Why Use Plastic Lumber
• Vegetative Roof Cover—Describes the practice of using light weight soil and other materials to grow plant cover on roofs. This type of roof, commonly called green roof, dramatically reduces rain runoff, insulates buildings and lengthens the life of roofs. Cumulatively, this practice might improve air quality and increase urban wildlife habitat. From U.S. EPA. Portable Document Format (PDF), 149 KB.

Other Resources

Other Documents

• Green Office Guide, A Guide to Greening Your Bottom Line Through a Resource-Efficient Office Environment,—By the City of Portland, Office of Sustainable Development. Portable Document Format (PDF), 506 KB.
• Particleboard and Medium-Density Fiberboard (Greenseal's "Choose Green" Report, October 2001)—The dilemma is that, in theory, these products can be made from postconsumer waste, but in reality they are made with either post manufacture waste or virgin lumber. These products are also typically made with formaldehyde resin. Formaldehyde is associated with several health problems. Report is in Portable Document Format (PDF), 253 KB, but this link goes to the "Choose Green" download page.
• Specifying and Sourcing Mercury-Free HVAC and Building Equipment—From Inform. Portable Document Format (PDF), 100KB.

Websites

• BEES Please—Recycled-content product manufacturers seeking recognition for an "environmentally preferable product" may consider conducting a life cycle analysis of their product through the "BEES Please" program.
• Building for the Future: Strategies to Reduce Construction and Demolition Waste in Municipal Projects—From Inform.
• BIPERUSA, Building Industry Professionals for Environmental Responsibility—A nonprofit organization to connect designers, architects, contractors, home-builders and owners and suppliers of things green.
• Center for Resource Solutions (CRS)—The San Francisco based CRS brings together diverse interests to implement practical resource solutions. Their national and international programs promote clean and efficient energy use, encourage sustainable economic growth, and help preserve the environment for present and future generations.
• Construction and Demolition Debris—From U. S. EPA
• Construction Waste Management Database—Contains information on companies that haul, collect and process debris from construction projects. The Construction Waste Management Database was created by the Environmental Strategies and Safety Division of the General Services Administration, and by the Office of Applied Economics of the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Also see the CalRecycle Construction Demolition Recyclers Database, above.
• Green Building Resource Guide—A database of over 600 green building materials and products. The guide claims that the materials and products contained in the guide are selected specifically for their usefulness to the design and building professions, rather than merely their green material content.
• Green Construction—The Pollution Prevention Resource Center.
• Healthy Building Network—A national network of environmental and health activists, socially responsible investment advocates, green building professionals, and others who are interested in promoting healthier building material as a means of improving public health and preserving the global environment.
• Mercury Free Heating Ventilating, and Air Conditioning (HVAC)—While manufacturers of building equipment have made substantial progress in reducing or eliminating mercury in building system control devices, some HVAC and building equipment on the market today still contains mercury components. This page from Inform helps sort things out.
• Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC)—IREC is a nonprofit organization of state and local energy agencies, national laboratories, solar and renewable organizations and companies, and individual members. Its mission is to accelerate the sustainable utilization of renewable energy sources and technologies in and through state and local government and community activities. IREC supports market-oriented services targeted at  implementation of uniform guidelines and standards, and consumer protection.
• Minnesota Sustainable Design Guide—The Minnesota Sustainable Design Guide educates and assists architects, building owners, occupants, educators, students, and the general public concerning sustainable building design. The Guide is a design tool that can be used to overlay environmental issues on the design, construction, and operation of both new and renovated facilities.
• New Building Design Guidance—The New Building Design Guidance is a series of strategic checklists with related resources for each step in the design process, from the U. S. EPA Energy Star program.
• Sustainable Buildings Industry Council (SBIC)—SBIC started out more than two decades ago as the Passive Solar Industries Council. They recently changed their name to more accurately reflect the full scope of their efforts in the allied fields of architecture, building systems and materials, energy analysis, and whole building design and construction. They are strong supporters of passive solar strategies, such as daylighting, thermal mass, shading, etc., and technology-driven solutions such as building-integrated photovoltaics. They address all aspects of sustainable design and construction, including healthy indoor environments, traditional materials, and resource conservation.
• Sustainable Products Corp—Consulting, training, marketing, and life cycle assessment of sustainable products.
• U. S. Green Building Council—A coalition of the building industry working to promote buildings that are environmentally responsible, profitable, and healthy places to live and work.
• Xtradirt.com—An information exchange for fill dirt, sand, gravel, rock, and recycled asphalt and concrete.

Building Subtopic

• Carpet