Unfortunately, to date the construction industry has often been associated with waste, rapid turn over, and an abundant lack of recycling.
Wood frame construction can, however, be a very green practice (when forests are logged sustainably) as during their growth trees sequester carbon, and do not release until being burned or decaying.
Comparatively, Large scale concrete construction has a rather large carbon foot print. However, all is not lost. Companies are attempting to use carbon sequestering technologies to use captured carbon and insert it as an additive in concrete mixtures. Their hope is the offsetting concrete’s overall carbon footprint.
So the question is: How do we make construction green? Overall the need to address recycling and reuse of other products such as vinyl siding, shingles, and other non compostable products, is one of the most imperative way that we can impact the environmentalism of construction.
Simultaneous, the sustainable management of forests is imperative for the future of wood framing, and the expansion of wood based products for construction.
At MHM General Contracting, we strive to reduce our impact by separating recyclable packaging materials from waste, recycling metal products, and reuse/repurpose wood waste.