Recycling Building Materials

DPD is proposing amendments to the Land Use Code to encourage builders and developers to salvage reusable materials from structures containing dwelling units. Currently, demolition permits cannot be issued in these situations before a permit that establishes a new use. This effectively prevents the deconstruction of a structure for reuse or recycling of its components, due to the time involved, versus standard demolition and sending the remains to a landfill. The amendments would authorize DPD to issue a demolition permit for those projects that will undergo deconstruction and salvage before a building permit for the new structure has been issued. This will provide developers more time to deconstruct an existing structure and increase the salvage of reusable building materials.

Deconstruction is the systematic disassembly of a building in order to maximize the salvage of reusable building materials first and to recycle materials second. Salvage is the recovery of valuable or useful building materials for reuse. Salvaging reusable building materials reduces the amount of construction waste routed to landfills and reduces the demand on virgin resources. Deconstruction and salvage are more labor and time intensive than standard demolition and many developers opt simply to demolish existing structures rather than incur the delay deconstruction and salvage will impose.