Reducing Waste and Diverting Waste on Construction Sites in Toronto

 Home renovations, building a new home, or working on an addition to an existing home are environments where significant waste is created. In years’ past, cabinetry, plumbing, hardware, and all sorts would be casually tossed into a dumpster and taken to the nearest dump without a second thought. Today, as new recycling opportunities have presented themselves, materials from construction sites in Toronto can now be diverted, instead of being fed to a landfill.

For construction sites in Toronto, diverting waste is always going to begin by renting a dumpster, bin, or waste container. By installing a large bin on the construction site, it provides the chance to gather non-hazardous building materials in a safe place. This might include lumber, scrap metal, drywall, concrete, asphalt, and/or glass. When the bin is full, just give your local waste management company a call to get it hauled off and sorted as requested.

There’s seemingly an endless list of recyclable materials that can be processed from construction sites in Toronto. Clean woods are oftentimes grounded into landscape mulches or similar products, while mixed woods are ground up for use as biofuel in the agriculture industry. Concrete and asphalt are processed into aggregate products for use in local construction. Cardboard and metals are sent to more specialized recycling processing plants to be re-made into finished product. Then, there’s glass which is broken down to become an aggregate material and component for road building. Lastly, there’s drywall which is processed into various products for the agricultural industry as well.

These are just a few of the different ways construction site materials can be recycled. Just as important as it is the materials coming out of the construction site, it’s equally important what materials are being put in. For example, LED lighting products last up to fifty times longer than older, incandescent bulbs. Then, there’s metal roofing which has a significantly longer lifespan than traditional asphalt shingles do. There’s also opportunities for environmentally-friendly reclaimed wood, quartz and granite application, recycled materials manufactured into floor coverings, and foundation concrete to be made from up to twenty-five percent recycled content sourced from within our beautiful province.

By working to maximize the recycling opportunities of what we are pulling out of construction sites and ensuring the materials we are putting in will hold up for the future, we can minimize waste creation. No matter how small or big a construction project is, waste diversion is something we must all be aware of as the effect this can have on our environment is tremendously positive.

At a time when Toronto, the GTA, and the province of Ontario are searching for ways to limit and reduce landfill materials, taking a look at how we work our construction sites may provide some strong insight. Residential and commercial construction is always going to create waste. What we do with it is up to the contractors who oversee these sites, the homeowners and property management companies, and the waste management companies.

Core Mini Bins looks forward to seeing more opportunity, more efficient waste management techniques, and more waste reduction within Toronto’s biggest construction companies. Sustainable waste management and recycling are what we do best, assisting at all stages of construction. For more information on what you can do to limit or divert waste from landfills, please feel encouraged to contact a representative at Core Mini Bins.