C&D World: Don’t Dust Off Complaints

The creation of dust from concrete crushing and other processes undertaken by C&D recyclers should be addressed before it causes complaints, speaker Tad Wollenhaupt told attendees of the C&D World Exhibition and Conference in mid-January.

Wollenhaupt, president of dust control equipment maker Air One Inc., Wareham, Mass., gave attendees an overview of different types of dust and how they are classified by regulatory agencies.

The fact that regulatory agencies such as the EPA and OSHA have classified dust by type and size serves to show that such agencies take dust seriously. According to Wollenhaupt, the reasons dust must be suppressed include its ability to cause respiratory problems from a health viewpoint and property damage from a liability viewpoint.

Suppliers offer several types of systems to suppress dust both at temporary jobsites and at fixed facilities, according to Wollenhaupt. These systems use either water or a specialty chemical applied most often as a spray or mist.

Nuisance complaints about dust can be one of several ways that C&D recycling draws both complaints and unwanted regulation, Construction Materials Recycling (CMRA) executive director William Turley told attendees.

In a overview for show attendees about why the CMRA is raising money for its “Issues and Education” advocacy fund, Turley noted that the presence of either dust or a large stockpile of material can be enough to convince a regulator that something dangerous is taking place.

Turley summarized several of the regulatory battles that the CMRA and some of its members have had to fight in just the past 12 months, including regulations involving the handling of gypsum scrap in New England, painted concrete in New Jersey, and scrap wood in a variety of locations from New Hampshire to the state of Washington.

“We are trying to promote your viewpoint to [regulators and elected officials],” the CMRA executive director told show attendees. The ability to advocate is vital, said Turley, and he says the CMRA is very willing to do so. “We have a good story to tell,” he concluded.

C&D World, the annual conference of the CMRA, took place in San Antonio Jan. 14-16. The 2007 show was managed by GIE Media, Cleveland, publishers of Construction & Demolition Recycling and Recycling Today magazines.