WSWRA Recycling Award Application (PDF)

The American Recovery & Reinvestment Act
Posted: July 11, 2009 - By Kim Bartles, EPA Region 8

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act provide a unique and great
opportunity to encourage sustainable building practices.  A key
component of sustainable building is using recycled industrial materials
as an alternative to virgin construction materials.  Industrial
materials are the byproducts of industrial processes.  Each year U.S.
industries produce over half a billion tons of industrial residuals that
are potentially usable materials such as coal combustion products,
construction and demolition materials, spent foundry sand, used tires,
and iron and steel slag.  Many of these materials have chemical and
physical properties that make them valuable resources when recycled or
beneficially used, but they are often disposed of as waste.

Recycling, rather than disposing, these materials can conserve
resources, reduce energy use and costs, decrease greenhouse gas
emissions, and reduce costs for both the generators and the end users of
the materials.  In some cases, recycled industrial materials can even
improve the quality of the products in which they are used.  For
example, recycling coal fly ash as a replacement for Portland cement
enhances the strength, durability, and workability of concrete.
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