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A NEWSLETTER TO EXPAND MARKETS FOR RECYCLED MATERIALS

Updates in Urban Wood

Urban wood ready for recycling.

As one new market reveals itself, other industry changes hinder existing markets
A significant amount of recyclable urban wood is ending up in landfills. Urban wood includes dimensional lumber and engineered wood scrap from construction and some demolition activities, pallets, crates, finished and unfinished furniture, manufacturing scrap, and some roofing and siding. Increasingly, organizations are developing new markets for recycled urban wood in efforts to reduce this waste and make use of this valuable resource.

Wood makes up nearly 17 percent of the material going to landfills in the United States.1 It also represents up to half of residential new construction debris in the waste stream in the United States.2 In King County, excluding Seattle, an estimated 78,000 tons of recyclable urban wood was disposed as waste in 2009.3

Local companies continue to find new uses for recyclable urban wood, while also facing new regulations and changing markets. Recent updates are detailed below:

NewWood board illustrating layered composite of wood fibers and recycled plastic film.

NewWood
Elma, Wash.-based NewWood is gearing up for the launch of their new wood-plastic composite building material in early 2011. NewWood will be composed of 99 percent recycled urban waste materials that would otherwise end up in landfills or be used as fuel. It is intended to have the flexibility and dimensional strength of wood products, such as cedar siding, with the durability and waterproof qualities of plastic.

The core of what makes NewWood different from all-plastic or all-wood boards is its unique combination of the structural qualities of wood fiber with the water- and insect- resistant qualities of plastic. Rather than using wood “flour” mixed with plastic, which is common in wood-plastic composite decking production, the company uses a patented process that encapsulates larger wood fibers in plastic.

In order to produce the NewWood product, Puget Sound area companies are supplying the raw materials–clean wood recovered from construction and demolition debris and polyethylene plastic film, such as grocery bags or industrial plastic wrap used to ship products on pallets.

For example, the plastic bags collected in curbside recycling or grocery stores could end up coming back as part of a NewWood board. NewWood representatives have also talked with the State of Washington about accepting materials from Washington State Correctional Industries, which is interested in supplying NewWood with the wood framing from recycled mattresses, and finding a use for the NewWood board in the office furniture it constructs for government agencies.

NewWood will initially be marketed as a 7/16-inch thick 4-foot by 8-foot sheet, similar in size to a sheet of plywood. It has advantages over traditional wood products in that it can be nailed to within a quarter-inch of any edge without splitting, and is water- and insect-resistant. Unlike some other wood alternatives, such as vinyl siding or fiber cement board, NewWood can be sawed and assembled safely with traditional carpenters tools.

NewWood facility in Elma, Wash.

NewWood is currently housed in a plant in Elma, Wash., which was initially built as the home of a nuclear power generation facility by the Washington Public Power Supply (now Energy Northwest). The plant was converted to produce a wood-plastic siding product for Boise Cascade, but the project stalled and the facility and production equipment sat unused for a number of years. NewWood owners will put the equipment back into production.

Maximum Achievable Control Technology (MACT) Standard
The EPA is proposing new rules for emissions on boilers, requiring businesses using biomass boilers to use maximum control technology to reduce toxic emissions. If approved, the change in the MACT Standard will affect what type of fuel source can be used for industrial boilers and process heaters. This could affect urban wood markets because it could eliminate certain types of construction and demolition wood as a fuel source. A final decision on the rule is expected to be published in December.

Wood Pulp
Local construction and demolition recycling companies have reported that as of last March, the new owners of Cascade Pacific Pulp are not interested in continuing to pursue the post-consumer pulp market. Cascade Pacific Pulp had been taking in a large amount of urban wood to produce pulp that was ultimately used in high quality recycled copy paper, but they have determined that the cost of recycling outweighs the benefits to their business enterprise.

Wood traveling through the sorter towards the waste wood silo at Seattle Steam.

Seattle Steam
Seattle Steam is a privately-owned utility that provides heat to approximately 200 buildings in Seattle's Central Business District and First Hill neighborhoods. More than 110 years old, the company produces thermal energy from five boilers located in two plants in downtown Seattle.

In the fall of 2009, the company installed a biomass boiler that burns urban wood from local sources. Cedar Grove Composting and a variety of other local wood processors supply their fuel. At full load, the plant burns 250 tons of waste wood each day, said Stan Gent, Seattle Steam president and CEO.

In comparison with others that use urban wood as fuel, changes in the MACT standards will not impact Seattle Steam as strongly.

“Seattle Steam’s current air permit exceeds the MACT emission standards, so it is not a high concern,” Gent said.

King County focus

Rendering of the new Bow Lake Recycling & Transfer Station to be completed in 2013.

Transfer station modernization under way
King County is home to eight transfer stations that make up a significant portion of the solid waste system that serves county residents and businesses. Many of the transfer stations are outdated and not equipped to handle changes to the solid waste system, which processes more than 800,000 tons of garbage each year. King County has embarked on a comprehensive, multi-year project to upgrade or replace the aging transfer stations.

Improvements have already been made to the Vashon, Enumclaw and Shoreline transfer stations. Next in line is Bow Lake Transfer Station in Tukwila. Constructed in 1977, the existing building needs upgrades to meet current environmental standards and to improve safety and efficiency.

Bow Lake Transfer Station is the county’s busiest—more than a third of the county’s waste is processed here—making it especially important that it be upgraded to accommodate additional projected growth.

A new recycling and transfer station is currently being built at the site of the existing station on an adjacent piece of land purchased for this project by the Division. The new building will be larger with easy-to-use unloading areas and an expanded recycling collection area, including a separate area for yard waste. It will also incorporate a compaction system that will replace the less efficient top loading system.

The final phase of construction for the Bow Lake station begins this fall, with the new transfer building expected to open in mid-2012. The project is expected to be completed in late 2013.

Master planning is now under way for a new station at the Factoria transfer station in Bellevue. The existing station was built in the mid-1960s and does not meet today’s service needs, including a lack of space for collecting recyclables and a low roof height that does not accommodate current waste hauler trucks.

King County has purchased land adjacent to the existing station that expands the property by two acres. The new, larger station is expected to reduce customer wait times, offer a recycling collection area and a more efficient system for hazardous waste collection, and be large enough to accommodate projected growth.

A final master plan for the Factoria station is expected later this year with construction slated to begin in 2013. The new facility is expected by complete by early 2015.

Industry Voice

Minnesota implements new specifications for using tear-off shingles in HMA
The State of Minnesota has been a leader in the use of recycled asphalt shingles (RAS) from tear-off roofing in hot mix asphalt (HMA). This year, Minnesota adopted a new specification permitting the use of RAS in its standard asphalt specification. LinkUp spoke with two engineers from the Minnesota Department of Transportation (Mn/DOT)—Mark Watson, Research Project Engineer and Greg Johnson, Assistant Bituminous Engineer—about how the specification was developed.

Q: What was the timeline for the development of the specification?
A: In 1995, we began allowing RAS from manufacturing scrap [a post industrial material] to be used in asphalt, but because of asbestos concerns we did not allow for RAS produced from tear-off shingles. Since then, interest in using tear-off shingles has grown and we have learned more about the process, so in recent years we have allowed for RAS from tear-offs to be used on a case-by-case basis, if requested. The new specification adopted this year allows contractors to use that material on a permissive basis at the discretion of the contractor.

Q: What was the main driver for development of the spec?
A: Within the last two years, several recycling operations have developed the ability to sort and process tear-off scrap shingles. The resulting product has similar characteristics to the manufacture waste scrap shingles.

Q: What types of tests and demonstrations has Minnesota done to test the use of recycled shingles in HMA?
A. Testing was done on 17 mixtures that were produced in the lab. The mixtures were subjected to an array of tests to assess the mixture and binder properties. Some of the tests include rutting and moisture susceptibility as well as dynamic/complex modulus testing. We also looked at gradation. Currently there are a few test sections that are being monitored in the state – two country roads and three state projects.

Q: What is your process for stakeholder input?
A. Every fall, the spec will be reviewed by our agency and by asphalt producers and paving contractors. Mn/DOT is the keeper of the spec but we want feedback and input from the contractors because, oftentimes, they have more information about what is happening in the field. When developing the spec we worked with several entities, including the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, the counties involved in the demonstration projects, the Minnesota Asphalt Pavement Association and a contractor.

Q: What are some of the barriers or challenges you faced and how did you overcome them?
A. We had one state project with shingles as a component that had some performance issues. After this project we re-examined the amount of recycled asphalt pavement that can be used in projects, and we now have a 70 percent rule—the percentage of new binder to total binder has to be 70 percent or greater. We also continue to work on ways to be sure that we are getting a clean quality product, such as how to sort the roofing materials coming from jobsites. The sorting is currently in the hands of the processors.

Fast facts

Mattress disposal subject to waste clearance at Cedar Hills Regional Landfill — Jan. 2009 – Jul. 2010

Note: Quantities of used mattresses larger than six pieces (mattresses or box springs) are classified by King County as a special waste that cannot be disposed at a transfer station. A waste clearance, which establishes the conditions for acceptance of certain waste materials, is required to dispose of them at the landfill.

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