Nashville Proposes Ordinance for Construction, Demolition Recycling Minimums

City officials in Nashville estimate that the state has doubled its construction and demolition waste stream over the last ten years. Now, the city is proposing a new ordinance to combat the issue.

With U.S. cities producing twice as much waste via construction and demolition rather than actual trash, cities are beginning to work out plans to recycle some of that construction waste.

Construction and demolition waste makes up a huge portion of landfills all across the U.S. Recycling these materials would help conserve landfill space and lower costs of transportation and disposal for these materials.

“We’re generating more and more of this material,” Jenn Harman, manager of Nashville’s zero waste program, said during a public meeting on the ordinance. “We’re really not recycling much of it.”

The newly proposed ordinance for Nashville would lay out a five-year plan that would introduce recycling minimums. It would also instill requirements to weigh materials and document recycling rates.

The proposal would apply to commercial construction and demolition projects while excluding single-family homes or townhomes with four or fewer units. The plan for demolitions would target material like metal and concrete, carpet, asphalt shingles, and bricks. While construction projects would need to recycle cardboard, metal, and concrete.

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