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Creating change within the community: |
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Creating change within the community: |
Green building, construction and demolition, and the development of local markets for recovered materials provide opportunities to integrate the new vision of resource management into the life of the community at all stages in the life cycle of recoverable materials. Beginning at the point of project design, the consideration of energy and material efficiency, air and water use, and waste and pollution prevention are all part of the initial planning process. From construction, throughout the life of the building or development, and finally to the demolition process, the environmental impacts of human activity are minimized to the extent possible, allowing for the creation of sustainable communities where growth occurs in balance with the community’s quality of life.
As we expand the ability of local businesses to use the materials that are recovered, we not only strengthen the local economy, we also enhance our ability to provide cost-effective recovery programs with reduced financial and environmental burdens from transportation.
Although much of the policy and program development in the areas of green building and construction/demolition debris ordinances has centered in larger urban communities, smaller communities can also benefit from the existing models. Sample policies and ordinances should reflect the needs and values of the cities that adopt them, so we have included links to examples from both large and smaller jurisdictions at the CIWMB website: Construction and Demolition sample documents.
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Policies for Green Building:City, state and federal agencies have increasingly adopted ordinances, policies and guidelines for the implementation of green building practices in new construction and in some cases for extensive remodeling projects. Green building is a primary area where all environmental impacts are considered together in the goal to create a sustainable living and working environment. In general, smaller rural communities have not yet focused on this issue to the same extent as larger metropolitan areas, perhaps in part because the quality of life in rural areas may be less heavily impacted by some of the major sources of pollution and environmental degradation present in the urban environment. But the benefits of sustainable building are just as important in rural America as in the cities, and these policies may be adapted to fit the needs of communities of any size. A closer look: City of San Jose, CaliforniaOn June 19, 2001 the San José City Council accepted the staff report on the Green Building Guidelines Recommendations and adopted the Green Building Policies as developed by the members of the community with the input of City Departments. The following policies and guidelines were developed with the input of the Green Building Workgroup, City Departments, the Planning Commission and the Mayor's Green Building Taskforce. VisionIn August of 1994, the San José City Council adopted San José 2020 as its general plan. Included within the plan was a major strategy entitled the "Sustainable City Major Strategy." The Sustainable City Major Strategy is a statement of San José's desire to become an environmentally and economically sustainable city. The Sustainable City Major Strategy defines a sustainable city as "a city designed, constructed, and operated to minimize waste, efficiently use its natural resources, and to manage and conserve them for the use of present and future generations." To achieve this end, the City of San José envisions a green building policy that fosters long-term social, economic, and environmental sustainability in building and development while making green building the standard practice in San José, and celebrating sustainability as a core value to the community. The vision for green building in San José is a place where the people have the knowledge and opportunities to build and occupy dwellings that have a maximum impact on the well being of the occupants and a minimal impact on the environment (adopted by the San José City Council on 4/4/00). PurposeThe purpose of a Citywide policy on green building is to demonstrate the City's commitment to environmental, economic, and social stewardship, to yield cost savings to city taxpayers through reduced operating costs, to provide healthy work environments for staff and visitors, and to contribute to the City's goals of protecting, conserving, and enhancing the region's environmental resources. Additionally, the City hopes to provide leadership by setting a community standard of sustainable/green building. Green Building PoliciesPolicy #1:The City of San José shall adopt Green Building Policy goals and incorporate green building principles and practices into the planning, design, construction, management, renovation, operations, and demolition of all City facilities that are constructed, owned, managed or financed by the City. Policy #2:The City of San José shall adopt the Green Building Rating System as the green building design guideline for its ongoing and future program areas and incorporate this system into all City facility projects that are constructed, owned, managed, or financed by the City. Policy #3:The City of San José shall provide leadership and guidance to encourage the application of green building practices in private sector planning, design, construction, management, renovation, operations, and demolition of buildings by promoting the voluntary application of the San José Green Building Policy goals and the "San José LEED" Green Building Rating System. See the the “Policy” folder of the Zero Waste Resources file, on the CD-Rom, for the complete text of San Jose’s Green Building Policy TopPolicies for Construction and Demolition (C&D) Recovery:All jurisdictions are impacted by the waste produced during construction and demolition operations, which may account for as much as 12% of a community’s disposed waste. For this reason, it is difficult for most cities and counties to achieve 50% waste reduction without increasing the diversion of these materials from the disposed waste stream. Materials wasted in construction and demolition are among the most easily and cost-effectively recovered, and the development of local markets for wood, drywall, metal, and aggregate should be high priorities in any waste reduction plan. Typically, such materials are dense and heavy, and therefore are relatively expensive to transport and dispose. Because most communities require a permit for construction and demolition projects, the incorporation of diversion requirements in some form into the permit process provides a ready vehicle for all communities interested in encouraging the recovery of these materials. The requirement may simply be a report of all materials recovered and wasted during the project, it may consist of tiered permit fees depending upon the level of recovery, or it may actually require contractors to separate materials and direct them to an appropriate recovery facility. Whatever the requirement and the recovery program, the first step for most jurisdictions is the adoption of a policy establishing its support for construction and demolition recovery activities. The CIWMB website provides several additional examples of model C&D ordinances adopted by cities and counties in California, at ConDemo/SampleDocs. TopPolicies for Local Market Development:Expanding our ability to recover and use previously wasted materials depends upon the cost to recover, clean, transport, and reuse the recovered materials. In many cases, the cost of transportation makes the difference between economic success and failure in the recycling cost equation. For small rural communities it is essential that opportunities to create new products from collected materials be created at the local level in order to make recycling economically feasible. The policies needed to help facilitate such local market development include: Goals It is the intent of the North Coast Recycling Market Development Zone to ensure that the collection and processing of locally generated recyclable material occurs in such a way as to encourage local consumption of that material. Toward that end, the following goals have been adopted:
Specific tasks to be undertaken to meet these goals are:
The North Coast Recycling Market Development Zone will adopt a five-point strategy to facilitate the development of local recycling-based industry. The Arcata Community Recycling Center, and Gainer & Associates, a Humboldt County-based recycling and community development-consulting firm developed this strategy, which has been widely utilized by local governments both inside and outside of California. Commitment to local market development is not a new concept to either the public or private sector in this region. The resource extraction based economy and entrepreneurial spirit of this area provides the perfect climate for the development of recycling-based industries. In fact, many recycling and reuse-based manufacturers and reuse businesses exist already. This five-point strategy involves:
Resources:Green Building Policies:City of Berkeley, CA: green building initiative City of Portland, OR: Portland green building research City of San Jose, CA: San Jose green building U.S. Department of Energy: US Department of Energy green building Construction and Demolition Recovery Policies:City of San Mateo C&D ordinance Local Recycling Market Development Policies:Top |
