by Courtney Little, President and General Counsel, ACE Glass Construction, ACE Glass Manufacturing, and ACE Glass Recycling
As we move into 2020, sustainability and recycling are on the rise. There are five key actions in recycling today: refuse, reduce, reuse, repurpose, and recycle. However, the construction industry has been slow to adopt all of these principles.
Refuse
Since a project starts with design work, it’s a great place to refuse to include harmful products, including hazardous chemicals. There are sometimes state or local regulations in place which have helped level the playing field, as many architects specify safer and higher quality products today. Much of that is because there are more sustainable products available, and those products are more cost effective than ever. As a specialty contractor, I’ve found many opportunities to recommend new and better products as they become available. I also have early access to new and innovative glass-related products to present to my local architects.
Reduce
At ACE Glass, we have found that planning and controlling a project’s waste from the beginning is usually the best way to improve a project. Proper design and contracts outlining the expectations for a project lead to improved efficiency and profitability for the stakeholders. In our case, it means planning what to recycle and how, so that we’re throwing less away.
We’re seeing more projects include sustainable practices as part of the design, contract, and operations. AIA (American Institute of Architects) added Document E204 in 2017, which provides a general structure for including sustainable practices for a project. Generally, the exhibit states that the project should have
- an objective;
- measurable waste reduction;
- a plan developed by both the owner and designer to verify the project’s success, such as a certification by a third party;
- documentation provided by the project’s participants for certification.
This is where we have been working to be proactive and engaged in the process to prevent holes in our portion of the overall project scope. We also want to avoid underestimating the costs of waste reduction.
The Lean construction process focuses on reducing wasted labor and materials. ACE Glass has been training as a team and find that there can be significant profit and competitive advantages when we reduce wasted materials and labor. Local trade organizations are providing education on “lean construction,” which helps us by teaching common terms and practices, and thereby makes it easier to reduce waste on a project.
Another growing trend that is improving construction is the greater use of prefabricated materials and assemblies. Many trades use prefabrication due to increasingly physically tight job sites and even tighter project schedules. We can also produce better quality products in a controlled environment using better equipment and tools. Unitized glass walls, bathroom plumbing assemblies, and even whole walls from studs to sheathing are more available than ever. They can be delivered and installed faster which benefits the end results and project schedule.
Reuse
In addition, some materials can even be reused on a project. For example, you can quickly sharpen drill bits and saw blades and refurbish many tools. We typically buy the longest lasting, best performing tools and equipment we can afford and maintain them. We also avoid single use packaging and containers when possible.
Repurpose
Next, we attempt to repurpose. My father still sends his empty coffee cans and food jars to the shop to separate and store the numerous screws and anchors we use. I’m also always amazed at the ingenuity I see when I visit jobsites and other companies – such as scrap PVC pipe used for tool holsters, and tool boxes, sheds and clipboards from scrap aluminum panels. We copy many of the great ideas and functional items people have created in our processes to make processes easier and more efficient.
Recycle
Last, if all else fails, we recycle. This is one of the areas I think we used to struggle the most. Our best results come when we identify recyclable materials on a jobsite and collect them separately. When we commingled materials, they were harder to recycle. We’ve identified local markets for many materials like scrap aluminum, and are even creating a market for recycled glass in our community. There are other materials we cannot recycle. Some of them can be used for other purposes such as using scrap wood and some hazardous chemicals as fuel for industrial furnaces and kilns.
Other materials we found easy to recycle are scrap paper used in our offices and cardboard used to ship materials. I was initially amazed at the volume of cardboard we used and how cost effective it was to have it recycled vs sent to the landfill. We’ve also begun to use recyclable coffee cups and utensils in our office kitchen and use a water filter and refillable bottles instead of bottled water for our team and guests.
Pitfalls
We’ve encountered a number of pitfalls when a plan is not well defined. Proper planning identifies the parties responsible for waste prevention and management. It also clearly describes the specific goal materials and amounts to be salvaged or recycled. We prefer to see defined actions and approaches be used to recycle and reuse waste. Luckily, through experience, we have identified local programs and facilities to use for recycling. Lastly, we estimate and track the costs or savings from the program so that we can improve over time and properly estimate the cost of future programs.
Payback
There have been improvements in the effort to reduce waste in the construction industry and our market. The payback we’ve seen for adopting sustainable practices are better quality, improved safety, and increased profits. As our community adopts sustainability, we’ve chosen the option to be proactive and define our practices so that others don’t define them for us.
Courtney Little is President and General Counsel for ACE Glass Construction, ACE Glass Manufacturing, and ACE Glass Recycling. and has offices in Central and Northwest, Arkansas. He previously practiced construction and real estate law. Courtney serves on a number of Committees and Boards including Immediate Past President of the American Subcontractors Association. Courtney can be reached at cl@aceglass.net.
