WasteCap Resource Solutions, the nation’s leading nonprofit construction recycler, will be piloting an innovative online/onsite documentation tool in partnership with Buffalo’s Minority Contractors Alliance (MCA) at ABC-TV’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition deconstruction and rebuild project in the city.
Mayor Byron Brown called the launch of the new technology, WasteCap TRACE, at Extreme Makeover: Home Edition’s first “green deconstruction,” a major win for environmental sustainability and local economic development.
“The launch of WasteCap’s innovative new TRACE technology in Buffalo is a step forward for making construction recycling an industry norm in America,” said Mayor Brown. “The launch of this new green technology is an exciting development for Buffalo and creates new conditions for local, green job growth and economic development.”
The innovative partnership between WasteCap and MCA, a first for the national recycling firm brokered by the Mayor’s Department of Economic Development, marks the first on-the-ground pilot of the new technology in the United States.
David Homes, Inc., the homebuilder that is constructing the new house at 228 Massachusetts Avenue for Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, will utilize the documentation and measurement services from the partnership to verify portions of the new home’s “Certified Green Professional Designation” through the National Association of Homebuilders. It will be the first such green designation for any project in Buffalo and for Extreme Makover: Home Edition.
WasteCapTRACE streamlines the entire recycling tracking and documentation process, allowing clients to monitor online their achievement of daily recycling rates compared to project goals. It is a simple, powerful, and effective online documentation program that tracks ongoing construction and demolition debris recycling and documents the results.
In the past, a waste hauler provided carbon copies of landfill dump receipts and weight tickets. Photos of segregated dumpsters were taken and later analyzed at a desk to determine volumes and weights. Receipts and manifests were collected from general and subcontractors and government regulators processed the data. All of the information was later complied into a report to the client to determine whether recycling goals were met and then submitted to a third party “green” certifying organization. With the launch of WasteCapTRACE, all of this can now be accomplished in real time through a website with field data able to be entered on site through a web-enabled PDA.
Increasingly, many building projects seek environmental certifications such as the US Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System™ or Green Guidelines for Healthcare. Extreme Makeover’s new home construction in Buffalo this week is pursuing the National Association of Homebuilders’ “Certified Green Professional Designation.”
For almost ten years WasteCap has provided on-site construction waste recycling plans and monitoring for builders, developers and owners to meet their waste minimization and recycling goals. On over $3 billion of construction projects, WasteCap has manually tracked and documented the diversion of over 267,000 tons of debris from America’s landfills. With TRACE, construction managers can do that for themselves online. Organizations with many building projects can monitor the success of their portfolio’s recycling efforts and aggregate enterprise-wide results.
To date, the response has been exceptional. Extreme Makeover’s Buffalo builder, David Homes, has committed to using WasteCap’s services on future homes. The partnership of WasteCap with the regional MCA also creates conditions for bringing a new “green” job type to Buffalo.
“As green certification for construction projects becomes an industry standard, the City will explore further green opportunities that will create new jobs,” said Mayor Brown. “Now that the City has forged this innovative new partnership between WasteCap and the Minority Contractors Alliance, we have effectively introduced an entirely new job category to the region: construction waste recycling documentation and certification.”
Due to the great success of this effort during Extreme Makeover: Home Edition project, the city is considering applying the new construction waste recycling technology on a larger scale. Green deconstruction, the Mayor noted, may hold greater job opportunities as an alternative to conventional demolition. Market testing of the concepts that emerged from the pilot project will be closely evaluated by the City’s Department of Economic Development to explore opportunities at demolition, construction, and rehabilitation projects citywide.