MARCH 2024ENVIRONMENTAL BUSINESS REVIEW8 OPINIONIN MYRECYCLING IN THE ENVIRONMENTAL INDUSTRYBy Stephanie Wernette, Deputy Director-Environmental Project Managemnt Org, TRC CompaniesRemediation, abatement, environmental demolition. Scopes like these require technical expertise to remove unwanted material. While it may seem straightforward, the rise of sustainable practices in the environmental industry as a whole raises concepts of waste reduction or waste recycling. The initial response may be "How are we supposed to incorporate that concept?" into a scope with a goal of mitigating unwanted material due to potential hazards to public health or the environment? Actually, various methods exist to reduce the volume of material originally destined for waste streams. The following project is a great example of utilizing multiple approaches to impact various materials being removed from the worksite. The scope was abatement, environmental demolition, and soil excavation to prepare the property, a former railroad right of way (RR ROW), for construction of a bike and walking path. Work included demolishing approximately 6 miles of railroad track, railroad ties, railroad ballast, and signal equipment. Over 2.5 miles (by 18 feet wide and approximately 24 inches deep) of soil was excavated. Signal equipment was removed from 23 intersection crossings. Our team provided project, construction, and subcontractor management. We completed the project on time and under budget. Key to success was open and frequent communication with the entire project team and the community. We held weekly meetings with the project team and more frequent focused meetings with subcontractors. Agency documentation was completed accurately, and community concerns were addressed in coordination with the client community relations team. The materials scheduled for removal were diverse, voluminous, and sometimes regulated. Whether the project budget is limited or not, spending is always a primary concern, and this project was no different. Our budget was limited, and we intended to squeeze as much work as possible to clear the RR ROW for the future heavy civil construction. At this stage, we evaluated each potential waste material. By approaching each material and assessing potential value we accomplished some fairly incredible feats to keep material out of landfills. First, the railroad equipment. As it turns out, there is a market for recovered railroad equipment. The rail ribbons (the "rails"), ties, and ballast can be reused on active RR ROWs. The materials are identified in the field and evaluated for fitness before being recovered. Separating the fit materials from the unfit became a step in our procedure, but our teams were experienced and worked efficiently, and the majority of railroad equipment was put back into service. The metal recovered included rail ribbons and metal supplies like the tie plates, stakes, and signal equipment. The rail ribbons were assessed for fitness and cut into 39 foot sections for reuse. Other metal material was collected for metal recycling. All in all, approximately 556 tons of metal was diverted from landfill. The RR ROW used heart wood ties. These too were evaluated during removal and separated for reuse and solid waste. The project recovered about 522 tons of wood to be put back into service. The ballast was also assessed onsite. Ballast is an engineered material used to build and provide stability for RR ROWs and therefore has value as a material. Extra processing was required to prepare the material, but we established an efficient and effective method to shake the material to separate Stephanie Wernette
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