Avoiding The Landfill Saves Money – And The Environment

Avoiding The Landfill Saves Money – And The Environment
The more a business reduces, reuses and recycles, the less waste it needs to dispose. The less waste, the fewer bins or pickups are required and disposal fees drop. Anything that lowers operating costs adds to the bottom line.
By Isaac Rudik

Not long ago, a 70-year old Ontario hospital was to be razed – right down to the footings and foundation – before being rebuilt. A simple job except the hospital told the contractor that at least 50% of the material had to go somewhere other than a landfill.

Once hazardous material was removed, the demolition contractor physically inspected the property, prioritizing and marking items for reuse. A detailed waste management plan identified a schedule of activities and workers were instructed in proper techniques and workmanship. Materials were handled carefully, maximizing reuse and recycling opportunities.

Eventually, the hospital reused or recycled nearly everything from its old building: Newer windows, door frames and hardware, numerous structural elements and bricks were among the most-common components that found a second life. Over 5,000 red bricks from the hospital were salvaged, cleaned and donated to the hospital, which sold them for $10 each in a fundraising drive, netting more than $50,000 for the organization. The remaining 55,000 salvaged bricks sold for 40-to-60 cents each. A useable generator was sold for $50,000.

In all, the hospital not only reused, recycled or sold off more than half of the old structure, it reduced the cost of the new medical complex that replaced the old building. Best of all, it kept hundreds of tons of perfectly good, useable material from being dumped in landfills.

Practical Recycling

Few businesses tear down an old facility to build a new one but the hospital serves as a vivid – if unusually large – example of how recycling can bring green economies to a company.

Once garbage arrives at a landfill, it is dumped and covered by a layer of dirt. Some of it decomposes over time but water can filter through the waste, picking up metals, minerals, organic chemicals, bacteria, viruses and other toxic materials. Contaminated water, called leachate, can travel from the site to contaminate ground and surface water for miles in every direction.

Landfill hazards don’t stop with ground water and soil contamination; they also release pollution-causing methane and greenhouse gas emissions.

Ontario is a recycling pioneer, the birthplace of the Blue Box. Avoiding disposal fees should be one of the primary goals of a recycling program.

Still, the more a business reduces, reuses and recycles, the less waste it needs to dispose. The less waste, the fewer bins or pickups are required and disposal fees drop. Anything that decreases operating costs adds to the bottom line.

Readily Available

When recycling containers are stationed throughout a workplace, people get in the habit of using them – just as they'll find a trash can rather than toss litter on the floor.

Even better for managers and so-called Green Committees, recycling bins finally come in a wide variety of sizes so the container can fit the workspace where it is used: Smaller bins in offices, larger ones in break rooms or lounges and locker areas, humungous sizes on the shop floor. And if workers congregate in outdoor areas on breaks, savvy companies are stationing handy blue bins to collect newspapers, discarded cigarette packs, drink bottles and other recyclables.

With careful planning and execution, companies of all sizes can create solutions to a growing landfill problem. Selecting products manufactured with the smallest foot print creates sustainability from start to finish. For example, Bullseye Trio bins are made from recycled plastics and offer convenient, one-stop disposal for paper, waste and cans/bottles an all-in-one station.

Because businesses get charged for garbage removal based on the amount, recycling programmes can be built around cost avoidance rather than potential recycling revenues. While the relatively small revenue generated may help offset some costs, it is unlikely they will support the entire program.




Isaac Rudik is a compliance consultant with Compliance Solutions Canada Inc. (www.compliancesolutionscanada.com), Canada’s largest provider of health, safety and environmental compliance solutions to industrial, institutional and government facilities.

E-mail Isaac at irudik@csc-inc.ca or phone him at 905-761-5354.

Taking The LEED In Controlling Indoor Air Quality And Pollution

Taking The LEED In Controlling Indoor Air Quality And Pollution
A growing number of people work in “sick buildings” that cause problems for workers ranging from simple fatigue to complex respiratory illnesses.
- By Isaac Rudik

When judges and support staff working in the historic Alberta Court of Appeal building in Calgary began experiencing fatigue, respiratory illnesses, and eye, ear, and nose irritation, they wondered if the famous building in which they worked was causing their multiple health complaints.

So building managers brought in Professor Tang Lee, a University of Calgary specialist in sick buildings to conduct air sampling. He confirmed high levels of a toxic microbe growing as mould throughout the building, recommending the building be closed until the toxin could be removed.

It turned out that the court house was a veritable Petri dish of bacteria, thanks to an improperly installed air intake system. Not only were toxins alive and well and living in the building’s air conditioning, they took up residence and were multiplying in the furniture and carpets – even the court’s files and books. Making matters worse, when judges took files home with them, they inadvertently carried toxins to their residences, in some cases making family members ill.

In effect, the historic building was like a setting for an absurd horror movie: The Spores That Consumed Calgary.

Common Problem

In fact, the Appeals Court building problem is not an isolated, one-off incident. Indoor air pollution causes 14-times more deaths than outdoor air pollution according to the WHO, and Washington’s EPA reports indoor air pollution is one of five top environmental threats to human health.

It turns out that many commercial offices are highly toxic environments from the glues, paints, organic chemicals, adhesives and formaldehyde used during construction and finishing. These contribute to indoor air pollution through off-gassing that may continue years after new construction or renovations are completed.

The problem is both widespread and deadly: Statistics Canada reports that, in 2003, some 1.3- million people were diagnosed with Multiple Chemical Sensitivities from working or living in what the media dubs “sick buildings.” Since most of us spend roughly 90% of our day indoors, indoor air quality is a serious health risk factor.

Healthy Buildings Increase Profits

Enter the Canada Green Building Council (CGBC). Although the acronym could be mistaken for an Eighties heavy metal band, CGBC actually manages LEED Canada for new construction and major renovations; LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, a green building rating system.

Among other things it does, LEED sets an indoor environment quality including carbon dioxide monitoring, ventilation effectiveness, construction management, using low-emitting materials, indoor chemical and pollutant source control, system controls, thermal comfort, and using daylight
to supplant HVAC.

But beyond charts, graphs and reports, LEED has established the economic benefits of healthy buildings. Making general improvements is demonstrated to increase worker productivity of up to 6%. Productivity gains pay for the cost of building and air quality improvements in less than two years.

Fast Payback

Why such a fast payback?

Because the cost of indoor air quality sensors such as a readily available, multi-gas detector models that cost less than $2,500. They monitor everything from carbon monoxide and oxygen levels to hydrogen sulphide, combustibles and exotic, problem-causing gases such as nitric oxide, nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide, chlorine, ammonia, hydrogen, hydrogen cyanide and chlorine dioxide.

Sick buildings not only produce sick workers, they rob profits from a company’s bottom line – and do so year after year. Yet there are effective, low-cost ways of monitoring an office, factory or warehouse to ensure it stays healthy. They are an easy way to prevent complicated problems.




Isaac Rudik is a compliance consultant with Compliance Solutions Canada Inc. (www.compliancesolutionscanada.com), Canada’s largest provider of health, safety and environmental compliance solutions to industrial, institutional and government facilities.

E-mail Isaac at irudik@csc-inc.ca or phone him at 905-761-5354.