Permanent or erasable green ink?(EDITOR'S FOCUS)(Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design)

Ever since the first Earth Day, there have been varying efforts made by corporations and entire industries to consider their reaction to calls for environmental stewardship and to measure and possibly alter their impact on the environment.

Skeptics can rightly wonder whether an announced green initiative will have all the impact of a personal New Year's resolution to eat less chocolate or be kinder to strangers. Much like a political campaign promise, some corporate environmental efforts have been more talk than action.

Lest the skeptics become too harsh, however, it should be noted that the ledger is by no means one-sided. Concerning the recycling of materials, there are many corporate success stories tracing back several decades.

Construction & Demolition Recycling magazine was spun off eight years ago from its sister GIE Media publication Recycling Today, which has as its slogan, "The Business Magazine for Recycling Professionals." That is a slogan that states pretty clearly that the aspects of recycling that receive the most attention from this media group are those that have been or are becoming established in the marketplace.

Throughout this decade, the marketplace has become increasingly favorable toward recycled aggregates, and demolition contractors and C&D recyclers who handle scrap metal can certainly attest to the strong market in that segment.

Demand-driven global energy markets carry the potential for higher-volume demand for scrap wood and green waste on the one hand, and have helped drive the energy-saving aspects of the Green Building phenomenon as well.

The Green Building movement has enjoyed tremendous corporate support. The good news for recyclers and contractors who stand to benefit from Green Building is that USGBC's LEED process is one that prompts supporters to act and not simply hold a news conference vowing support.

The level of continuing LEED involvement by architects, builders and their corporate clients will be a key gauge as to whether the marketplace is finding that its cost-benefit analyses genuinely point toward Green Building practices.

A good recycling idea that repeatedly fails cost-benefit analyses is generally one that flickers and fades rather than burning steadily. The marketplace has provided examples of rewards to recycling innovators (such as Nucor, the steelmaker that has thrived making steel from scrap metal), but it has also provided harsh lessons.

The encouraging thing for recyclers of C&D materials is that, should the Green Building momentum continue to move forward, they are in the right place at the right time to benefit from the growth of the USGBC and its LEED system.

Print Get the Mag Weekly Updates