Waste Management at the Residential Construction Site

Joseph Laquatra
Mark Pierce
Cornell University

Industrial Revolution
Every home makes compromises among different and often competing goals: comfort, convenience, durability, energy consumption, maintenance, construction costs, appearance, strength, community acceptance, and resale value. Often consumers and developers making the tradeoffs among these goals do so with incomplete information, increasing the risks and slowing the adoption of innovative products and processes. This slow diffusion negatively affects productivity, quality, performance, and value. This department of Cityscape presents, in graphic form, a few promising technological improvements to the U.S. housing stock. If you have an idea for a future department feature, please send your diagram or photograph, along with a few, well-chosen words, to elizabeth.a.cocke@hud.gov.

Construction and demolition (C&D) debris is produced during the construction, rehabilitation, and demolition of buildings, roads, and other structures (Clark, Jambeck, and Townsend, 2006). According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA, 2003), C&D debris amounts to 170 million tons per year, or 40 percent of the solid waste stream in the United States. Although efforts to reduce this debris through reduction, recycling, reuse, or rebuying continue to expand through government mandates, green building incentives, and education, much work remains.