Building Product Ecosystems Founder Amanda Kaminsky works with building owners, construction teams, processors and manufacturers in the region to recycle gypsum into new products.
While procuring building materials for large real estate developers in New York City, Amanda Kaminsky and her team found that some of the systems to recycle and reuse construction and demolition debris were “far from perfect.”
Kaminsky founded Building Product Ecosystems LLC, New York,--a collaboration between building owners, construction management teams, gypsum wallboard manufacturers, concrete producers, recyclers and government agencies--to improve the management systems of major building materials. Kaminsky recently talked about the successful closed loop system being established for gypsum wallboard during April’s Sustainable Materials Management webinar series, presented by The National Recycling Coalition (NRC), Washington, and Pennsylvania Recycling Markets Center.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates 584 million tons of construction and demolition debris is generated per year in the U.S., twice the amount of municipal solid waste (MSW) that is generated per year. Of that, 13 million tons, which Kaminsky says is a “conservative” estimate, is gypsum wallboard. Two percent of gypsum is recycled back into new wallboard. The EPA estimates 75 percent of gypsum debris stems from demolition projects, while 25 percent comes from new construction trim scrap.
Beyond the environmental impacts, “We’re throwing away valuable resources when we’re not recycling this material,” Kaminsky says. “In landfills, when materials are layered on top of other materials in humid, anaerobic conditions, we can see hydrogen sulfide generation. Gypsum is a major contributor to hydrogen sulfide gas, which is associated with the ‘rotten egg’ smell people are familiar with."
Hydrogen sulfide gas can have “significant health impacts” for communities around landfills, from asthma to severe cognitive impacts, which has led communities across the country to speak up about concerns. In some cases, landfills have been put on notice or denied renewal licenses.
“Landfills are remediating by venting or covering,” Kaminsky says. “Some of these solutions are band-aids that don't address the source of the problem. We have a lot of room for progress in how these problems are remediated closer to the source.”
Simultaneously, landfill capacities are projected to drop over the next five years and municipalities are considering what their role is to manage procurement of post-consumer recycled content in materials, as well as how to manage demolition and construction to “optimize the whole system for different building materials,” Kaminsky says.
While these concerns have led to gypsum landfill bans and reuse requirements in Europe and British Columbia, regions in the U.S. are just starting to push policies to improve the system. An ordinance in Seattle requires all construction and demolition projects to “separate new construction gypsum scrap for reuse" and bans the material from being “deposited in construction and demolition site garbage containers for disposal.”
However, for a closed loop system to be successful, end markets and collaboration between construction sites and manufacturers need to be established.
“It’s not always easy to add this layer of care, but it’s very important,” Kaminsky says. “The stakes are high."
In N.Y.C., this has required a change of mindset on renovation and new construction sites to source separate. Some project teams have designated some of their existing laborers to a dedicated drywall cleanup crew, to collect the clean scrap material in mini containers or hampers on site, if space is constricted, and then bring it to a central recycling container or loading dock at the end of the day. One of the N.Y.C. construction teams fills a dedicated 30-yard container with gypsum every two days.
“I was surprised once we got started, there was little to no impact on the things I care about, which are time, schedule, budget. We’re able to get a recycling program for sheetrock and have very little impact on the job,” says Vinnie Teklits, executive superintendent at Hunter Roberts Construction Group, who has played a “pivotal role” in closed loop gypsum recycling in N.Y.C.
Building Product Ecosystems’ online interactive map shows active gypsum wallboard project sites, haulers, processors and manufacturers around the region. It also shows the movement of gypsum from New York City construction sites to recyclers, including Cardella, New Jersey, to USA Gypsum, Denver, Pennsylvania, where it is processed, and then to USnited States Gypsum, Washingtonville, Pennsylvania, where the recycled gypsum feedstock it's remanufactured into new wallboard and supplied back to New York building projects.
Some active projects recovering gypsum include two “large Google development projects,” in which gypsum wallboard manufacturers PABCO, Newark, California, and National Gypsum, Richmond, California, are collaborating with construction teams on a new construction closed loop gypsum trim scrap takeback program in San Francisco, California. The VIA 57 West building in N.Y.C., alongside the Columbia Manhattanville project, have been among the first pilot projects to recycle new construction gypsum trim scrap, Kaminsky says.
Currently, Building Product Ecosystems is collaborating with the Gypsum Association and and the Construction & Demolition Recycling Association (CDRA) to develop quality standards for recycling new construction trim scrap to help ensure the coordination and quality of this material reuse, from construction sites to recycling facilities to gypsum manufacturers.
“We’re taking what has been a very linear system and inserting a loop option that greatly diminishes material going to landfill," Kaminsky says.
The interview covered a range of topics, including how to lead, dealing with shifting recycling markets, hiring challenges and how to change corporate culture.
National Waste & Recycling Association (NWRA) President and CEO Darrell Smith sat down with WCA Waste Corp. CEO Bill Caesar May 7 at WasteExpo for a fireside chat that covered a range of topics, including how to lead, dealing with shifting recycling markets, hiring challenges and how to change corporate culture in a waste organization.
Here are some highlights from the discussion:
Darrell Smith: You had your entree into the corporate and consulting world working with companies like McKinsey & Company and Macquarie. Can you tell us how you [got started and how these experiences taught you to succeed in the waste management industry]?
Bill Caesar: What you carry with you is how you look at an industry, whatever industry that is, and decide what’s important and what the drivers of success are. What are the things you have to do to succeed and what metrics do you need to look at? What are the environments that you’re working in? Who are the competitors? All these things about how you look at a problem or an industry are things that are highly leverageable. … The [details change], but all the other things are very transferable and were highly useful in my transition from consulting into the waste management field.
DS: What kind of leader are you? How do you motivate people?
BC: There are a couple things I would say describe my leadership style. The first one is honesty. I make a point of ensuring that everybody knows [the reasons behind] what I think is important. I’ll always be straight with them, and I will always be fair. I can’t claim that I will always be patient, but I will always be fair and honest—both for the people that work for me, and for the people that I work for because its important as a manager [to know] that you don’t just manage people, you’re managing the board, you’re managing the people who own the company and are invested in it. You have to be the same person to groups on both sides of that equation. And that philosophy has served me well to this point.
I don’t get questioned on whether or not what I believe in is for the right reasons. If you were to ask me what my approach to management is—there is management by walking around [and learning from immersion], and I do a little bit of that—but I manage by asking questions. I ask questions all the time. Ninety percent of the time I don’t know the answer to those questions—I’m not testing anybody—I ask questions because I honestly want to know why something happened, what does it mean, what did we learn, how are we going to move forward, etc., but I don’t look back on much of anything. I may not be the most optimistic person, but I am definitely a forward-thinking person. When [mistakes happen], we figure out how to move on but we don’t dwell on those things. But I do want us to learn from things when we make mistakes and I want our people to understand how things came to be so we can better manage them.
DS: How’s WCA doing recovering from challenges with the recycling market?
BC: I think with WCA, recycling accounts for 1.8 percent of our revenue. It is not the most important thing I do every day. However, even at 1.8 percent, it has a meaningful impact in delivering the financial performance my board is looking for. … We’re doing the best we can. If there was a secret to recycling, it would’ve gotten out by now. You need to force the people that are bringing you material to pay you more for it. You don’t give them rebates anymore. You improve your operations, and you try like hell to get somebody to buy the stuff you’re making—it’s not that complicated. It can be real complicated if you want it to be, but at the end of the day, you need to run your plant as efficiently as possible, don’t pay for crappy material and sell everything that you can, if you can. At the end of the day, the vast majority of the value that you create [from recycling] is a function of things that are completely out of your hands.
DS: Can you talk about your recruiting efforts? What is WCA doing to manage its [hiring needs]?
BC: A year ago, we put together a group of people to look at what the drivers were in our whole recruitment process. We tried to understand what we could be doing better in how we attract people—what do our benefits need to be, what do our comps need to be, how are we going to promote the company, what happens when our employees show up on their first day of work, how do we introduce them to WCA, and how do we try to get them to realize that we not only want them to work for us but we want them to be part of us? We found that we were lacking in that first impression that we made with employees. We realized we probably didn’t train our front-line supervisors to help new employees get started. We probably didn’t totally think through how to deal with employees coming from outside the industry … so it was a broad-based effort for us. We called [our efforts to improve our recruitment process] Project Genesis because [it was all about improving what we did] starting from the beginning of your introduction to WCA. I can’t tell you that as a result of this that we’re in the top quartile, but we’re a lot better than we were.
DS: How does WCA approach safety?
BC: If there is one piece of advice I’d give the industry, it would be to make sure that your employees know that their lives are worth more than any piece of equipment you own, and that they should never put themselves in a position where they could get hurt because [they fear] a piece of equipment is going to get damaged. I don’t feel like we can do a lot about distracted drivers, we can’t fix that, but I can make sure my people know that avoiding damage isn’t worth their lives.
During the audience Q&A portion of the session, an audience member asked about how a waste company can change its culture over time.
BC: I start with leadership. I think it is very hard for front-line people to change what they’re doing if front-line leadership hasn’t bought into it. When I came to WCA, we made some changes in leadership. Some because it was clear that the individual was incapable of doing the job that we needed them to do, some because the person doing the job realized that maybe they didn’t want to do it in this environment, and that was good. I feel so good about the team I have today. We have capable people who are smart, who are doing what they need to do and they care about people—that makes all the difference.
AMP Cortex DRS is designed to drop into existing facilities without requiring a major retrofit or downtime.
AMP Robotics, Denver, has announced the launch of its AMP Cortex dual-robot system (DRS) focused on material recovery in municipal solid waste (MSW), electronic scrap and construction and demolition (C&D) recycling applications.
The AMP Cortex DRS expands on the company’s existing product line of high-speed recycling robotics guided by the AMP Neuron AI platform. The AMP Cortex DRS uses two high-performance robots that rapidly sort, pick and place materials at an unprecedented speed of 160 pieces per minute, creating optimum productivity, the company says.
According to an AMP Robotics news release, the AMP Neuron uses computer vision and machine learning to recognize different colors, textures, shapes, sizes and patterns to identify material characteristics. Then, it directs the robots to pick and place the targeted material. The system can operate 24/7 with continuous high-precision sorting, preventing contaminants in material streams. AMP Robotics reports that it also increases the overall quality and purity of commodities to be reclaimed. The company says the system is modularly designed to drop into existing facilities without requiring a major retrofit or downtime, enabling customers to quickly benefit from advanced automation.
From sheets of paper to cardboard, sorting fiber is a major challenge for recycling lines, often becoming a contaminant for other recycled commodities. AMP Robotics reports that the design of the two robots opens up new material applications, namely the ability to efficiently process difficult material streams of postconsumer fiber.
“The launch of the AMP Cortex dual-robot system marks another key technology milestone for AMP as we continue to advance the application of AI and robotics for the industry,” says Matanya Horowitz, chief executive officer of AMP. “Our latest innovation further improves the economics of recycling by helping waste management companies meet increased quality standards, reduce operational costs and achieve their productivity goals.”
AMP’s latest announcement follows recent press about its partnership with Ryohshin Ltd., Osaka, Japan, to develop two new robotic systems using AMP Neuron AI to recycle C&D materials for the Japanese market. Also, ERI, a large e-scrap recycler, announced plans for additional installations of the AMP Cortex system in its facilities.
“We are very pleased about how our latest material application helps solve the challenge of recycling fiber products,” Horowitz adds. “Our AI platform continues to adapt and deepen with new material applications proven by what we have recently achieved with C&D and e-waste. As we scale our business, we remain focused on continuous improvement and innovation. The launch of our latest AI robotics system serves as another great example of this.”
AMP Robotics is exhibiting at WasteExpo 2019 in Las Vegas from May 6-9. In addition to speaking at the conference about AI and robotics in recycling, Horowitz will also be receiving Waste360’s “40 Under 40 Award” and the publication’s annual “Innovator of the Year Award,” created to recognize forward thinkers who use technology to better the waste management industry.
The company added Correlli Inc., Dundalk, Maryland, to its distribution network.
Hyundai Construction Equipment Americas, Norcross, Georgia, expanded its North American authorized dealer network with the addition of Dundalk, Maryland-based Correlli Inc.
Correlli Inc. is an equipment all-in-one service provider, according to a Hyundai Construction Equipment news release. President Patrick Correlli and his sons started the business on June 1, 1999, as an independent repair shop. The business supports repairs on all makes and models of construction equipment.
According to Hyundai Construction Equipment, the company’s North American network now includes more than 70 dealerships in about 150 locations. These locations offer sales, service and parts for the full line of Hyundai excavators, wheel loaders, compaction rollers and other construction equipment.
“The Correllis are and have always been a customer support driven company and customer satisfaction is No. 1 with them,” says Bill Klein, Hyundai Construction Equipment America’s district manager-Northeast. “They have five service trucks on the road, 10 technicians and four on-the-road salespeople to support the customers’ needs. They will be a great addition to the Hyundai family of dealers in the Baltimore, Maryland, area.”
Compared to the same time last year, industry employment is up by 256,000 jobs, an increase of 3.5 percent.
The construction industry added 33,000 net new jobs in April, according to a recent analysis by Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) of data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Compared to the same time last year, industry employment is up by 256,000 jobs, an increase of 3.5 percent.
Nonresidential employment added 32,400 net new jobs last month, although the nonresidential building subsegment added just 400 net new jobs. Nonresidential specialty trade contractors led the segment, adding 22,100 net new jobs compared to March and 114,300 net new jobs year over year.
Overall, the construction industry unemployment rate fell to 4.7 percent, down 2.2 percentage points from the same time last year, which represents the lowest April rate since the series began in the year 2000. The national unemployment rate for all industries fell to 3.6 percent in April.
"Many economists are predicting a recession in 2020 or 2021,” says ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu. “While that’s possible, the case for an economic downturn over the next 12 to 18 months is fading fast. The nation has added jobs in 103 consecutive months and the unemployment rate is at its lowest level since 1969. With inflation and interest rates low, the cost of capital remains suppressed, helping to induce ongoing spending growth among companies, consumers and governments alike. Corporate earnings remain strong, and today's employment report indicates that many remain firmly in growth mode.
“For construction firms, today's jobs report is consistent with lengthy backlog, continued expansion in consumer outlays, growing demand for office and other forms of space, and steady demand for construction services,” Basu says. “As contractors continue to struggle to identify and afford talent, average hourly earnings for construction employees increased by 0.4 percent from March to April, approximately twice the rate of growth observed across all industries. That said, construction wages have expanded at a slightly slower rate than all industries over the past year, increasing by 3.1 percent."