“U.S. coal-fired power plants shut down at the second-fastest pace on record in 2019, despite President Donald Trump’s efforts to prop up the industry, according to data from the federal government and Thomson Reuters.”
Disposal Capacity Crunch Paves Way for More Industry Consolidation and Price Increases
“WBJ's latest annual report, a mix of new and previously released data derived from facilities around the country, offers an in-depth look at the implications of looming capacity crunches in certain areas. While permitted expansions and possibly even new sites can be expected to change that equation, they haven't kept up at the same pace to offset capacity losses in recent years. And even though some U.S. landfills still have many decades or more of space left, it is becoming increasingly complicated to export the waste to wherever that capacity may be.”
Politico Magazine Publishes Series on "New York City's Recycling Failure"
“Over the next week, POLITICO will publish a series on New York City's management of refuse. Based on four months of reporting, more than 50 interviews and a review of hundreds of pages of public documents, the stories will explore the politics, policies and financial decisions that contribute to the mountains of black bags piling up each night on city streets. They will examine the impact of the city’s sluggish progress, which reaches from Newark, N.J., a poor city of mostly racial minorities, to Bishopville, S.C., which has a 46 percent poverty rate.”
USGS Gypsum Mineral Commodity Survey Update, January 2020
Cement Mineral Commodity Summary, USGS, January 2020
Slag Mineral Commodity Summary, USGS, January 2020
BPE Gypsum Wallboard Jobsite Source Separation Video
Structural Engineers 2050 Challenge
“The goal of the Structural Engineers 2050 (SE 2050) Challenge is to inspire structural engineers to contribute towards the global vision of Zero Carbon buildings by 2050, and to provide measurements of progress towards that vision. Much like the AIA 2030 Challenge does for operational energy in buildings, this SE 2050 initiative will challenge structural engineers to meet embodied carbon benchmarks and increasingly higher reduction targets in a “race towards the most efficient building” as we approach the year 2050.”
Marin County, Calif., Enacts First Low-Carbon Concrete Code in US
“On Nov. 19, the five-person Marin County, Calif., board of supervisors unanimously approved the nation’s first low-carbon concrete code that applies to both public and private construction (ENR 11/4-11 p. 24). The Bay Area Low-Carbon Concrete Building Code, which limits embodied carbon content of both plain and reinforced concrete, goes into effect Jan. 1.”
Embodied Carbon Tool Launches at Greenbuild 2019
“At the 2019 Greenbuild conference being held in Atlanta, Simonen’s organization officially launched the beta version of the Embodied Carbon in Construction Calculator, or EC3—free and open-source software intended to help designers, engineers, and clients assess and reduce these upfront emissions.”
US Representatives Introduce RECOVER Act to Invest in Recycling
Coal Ash Recycling Rate Declines
Industry: EPA Must be the “Loud Voice” to Advance US Recycling
How Recycling Has Changed in All 50 States
The Future of Sustainability & How It Helps Profitability
In this “Smarter Building Materials Marketing” podcast, Zach and Beth talk to Sydney Mainster, Director of Sustainability at the Durst Organization, and Amanda Kaminsky, Founder of Building Product Ecosystems, about how they’re working collaboratively with both manufacturers and developers to sustainably innovate the building materials sector.
Saint-Gobain Enters Agreement to Acquire Continental Building Products
“Saint-Gobain and Continental Building Products (NYSE: CBPX) today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement pursuant to which Saint-Gobain will acquire all of the outstanding shares of Continental Building Products for $37.00 per share, in cash, in a transaction valued at approximately $1.4 billion (approximately €1.3 billion).”
Extended Producer Responsibility Achievements: The Case of Paint in the US
“Each year in the U.S., more than 78 million gallons of paint, or approximately 10% of what consumers purchase, goes unused. At a cost of about $8 per liquid gallon, it would cost local governments and their taxpayers more than $600 million annually if all leftover paint was collected and properly managed.”
Tipping fees in the U.S. continue to rise
Glass Recovery Hierarchy Recently Released by the NorthEast Recycling Council’s Glass Committee
Skanska Open-Sources Tool for Calculating Embodied Carbon in Construction Materials
Skanska, a construction and development company, announced “the creation of the Embodied Carbon in Construction Calculator (“EC3”) tool, a ground-breaking solution for calculating and evaluating the carbon emissions embodied within a wide array of building materials.”
See the full press release here.