If you own a construction company, you might be responsible for demolition projects. This is required when a homeowner is making major renovations in or around their home, and old structures need to be torn down. In order to reduce the impact on the environment, you should strive for a green demolition. This is when you try to recycle or reuse as many materials as possible and reduce how much ends up in landfills. Here are some different ways to have a greener demolition.

Reduce Exposure to Chemicals

The first thing you need to do is inspect the area to be demolished for signs of dangerous chemicals or fibres. This must be done not just to protect yourself and your workers, but the homeowners as well. If there is a risk of asbestos and you start demolishing, you put everyone at risk and the dangerous fibres can harm the environment as well. To reduce hazards, make it a habit to inspect the property and find out the history of the home before doing any work. If it is an older house and the owners never had asbestos testing done, now is a good time to do it. Also be aware of other hazards, such as lead paint or formaldehyde.

Salvage as Many Materials as Possible

When you start completing the demolition, try to salvage as many of the construction materials as you can. Construction waste takes up a lot of space in landfills, with items like glass windows, trim and window frames, old doors, concrete, and ceramic tiles. A lot of these materials and others you might come across can be reused for other projects. If they want to remove a built-in bookshelf on a wall being torn down, consider using those shelves to build another bookshelf in the same home, but in another room. If they have ceramic tiles they want pulled up to lay down hardwood flooring, ask if they have other rooms with old carpeting they would like to replace with the tiles. You can even use some of these materials for your own home projects if you like. Any way to reuse the materials instead of tossing them in the dumpster is a good thing.

Recycle What You Can

The final step of green demolition before throwing waste in the dumpster to go to the landfills is to figure out what can be recycled. You should always have a separate dumpster for recyclable waste to take to local recycling plants instead of going to the regular city dump. There are many demolition materials you can recycle, including metal, ceramic or porcelain toilets or sinks, wood, glass from windows, and glass or ceramic tiles.