Nashville has seen an exponential growth in development, and it’s estimated that 38% of what we send to landfill is made up of construction and demolition materials. To better understand the generation of this waste, Metro Nashville started a Debris Management Review program following the principle: “you can’t manage what you don’t measure.” As part of this program, large commercial projects in Nashville are required to provide a plan for how waste will be managed on their site before a building permit can be issued – a first of its kind municipal program in the Southeast. Education and communication have been crucial for helping some in the building community understand the new concept of quantifying their project waste. There were – and still are – great differences in how this program is received and understood. Allie Omens, Construction and Demolition Recycling Coordinator with Metro Nashville Waste Services, will provide her lessons learned from over a year and a half of managing this program and demonstrate best practices for translating complex solid waste concepts into terms that fit within an audience of stakeholders with varying understanding of waste. In the spirit of using data as power, she will also share the ways that municipal data have been used to improve this program overtime, refining it based on common pitfalls.

While waste reporting may have been new for some, those that commonly work with Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), Living Building Challenge, or other sustainability building certifications are no stranger to tracking this information. Erica Weeks, Associate Principle and Director of Sustainability with HASTINGS architecture, will demonstrate how her firm has taken this new municipal program one step further, taking a hard look at the waste coming off her firm’s LEED and non-LEED projects alike. Data tracking of C&D waste is critical not only for general contractors, but now for architects as enhancements to these rating systems are starting to seek a pounds per square foot waste generation limit to challenge teams to generate source reduction strategies. Data is power, and Erica will demonstrate the financial benefit of waste tracking with case studies from the field.

In this session, Allie and Erica will share over five years of project data, from examples of information received in the municipal reporting program, to metrics on private projects to illustrate best practices in estimating, tracking, and reporting on the C&D waste stream. These lessons learned will help inform, inspire and guide your ability to track C&D waste on a project-by-project basis as well as help refine steps for future potential municipal ordinances. This session also should be attended by beginners to this space, seasoned C&D experts, or those willing to explore the all-important relationship between C&D activity and the solid waste industry.

Did you know that construction and demolition (C&D) materials make up about a third of the world’s waste? Or that at least 40% of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions result from C&D activities? Compare this to the 2-3% of global emissions caused by the aviation industry – a sector that has gotten a lot of criticism for its environmental impact -- and the significance becomes all the clearer. It is vastly important that solid waste professionals of all specialties understand this waste stream, and what better way to do so than through data? This session will share over five years of project-by-project data on C&D waste generation and composition from the individual and intersecting perspectives of a municipal administrator and a private-sector architect. Together, the speakers will share a variety of strategies to comprehend and measure the waste generated on C&D projects in a way that can be understood by beginners to this sector and industry waste experts alike. Session attendees will also hear first-hand hear trials and tribulations (and successes!) from developing and launching a new solid waste municipal requirement for large construction projects in Nashville – a first of its kind program in the Southeast. Participants will walk away from this presentation with the critical understanding that when we think deliberately about our waste and are willing to collaborate across the industry, opportunities arise.