Green Destruction
When New York restaurants, hotels and apartment buildings are torn down in the city today, the materials are being reused and recycled. This is a huge step for the city, huge in ideology and potentially grand in scale. Many buildings across the United States are being revamped with energy saving solar panels and water saving devices. And new construction is regulated by the same, if not more stringent standards. These green buildings have gained press and attention. This is an important aspect of construction, but is what is starting to gain importance and notice is the way in which buildings are torn down and the ways in which the materials are being disposed of. This addresses not only the concerns of energy management, but of waste management as well. Leading the way in the city of Manhattan, is of course the New York Botanical Garden. Long known as a staunch defender and protector of the environment, the Garden is in the process of renovation. Structures are being removed in order to improve the Garden on various levels. Waste from the demolition of buildings in the past has contributed to approximately sixty percent of the city’s solid waste. Concrete, metal, stone and glass account for over 35,000 tons being deposited in landfills each day. To cart the load, there are small dump-trucks taking the debris to transfer stations around the city. The debris is then put onto larger trucks and transported out of town.
By reusing materials on site, the pollution, from the trucks alone, is reduced. Not to mention what is not deposited into the already over-flowing landfills. Workers on construction sites all over the city, now organize and separate the debris into ‘piles’. Systematically categorizing materials for use in reconstruction, taking buildings down in way they were built, well…exactly opposite to the way they were built to be correct. This saves not only the environment, but money as well. Current calculations and observations estimate that over ninety percent of the materials are re-usable. This saves money, pollution related costs of local deconstruction, energy, materials and serves in minimizing trips to the transfer stations and land fills. Companies must pay to dump. Pay, to dump material that can be used to rebuild. The re-use of items saves more money and energy than the act of re-cycling. And in the city of Manhattan, it pays to rebuild, in many more ways than one.
I
No related posts.