Debris from torn-down buildings (which primarily consists of concrete, wood, metals, and glass), is formally referred to as Construction and Demolition (C&D) Material. C&D waste used to simply be sent to a landfill, but now is more often sent to a C&D recycling center, where waste material is shredded and separated. For example, ferromagnetic metals are pulled out with magnets. Each waste stream is then diverted to different uses. The goal is to recycle the materials and conserve landfill space.
The latest trend is to recycle roadway materials as well. For example, when the old asphalt is milled up from roadways, the asphalt millings are often stockpiled and then heated and mixed with virgin asphalt to then be used for a new roadway surface. According to this site, approximately 75 million tons of asphalt is recycled every year in the U.S.
As for concrete roadways, the old concrete is often crushed and reused as road-base material.
First, site history - knowing what happened previously on the site, looking at aerial photos over time, and perusing public records all can give a decent indication of what might be in the fill. After that, lab analysis of samples. Usually you don’t test the soil for every possible contaminant; you test for what has a chance of being there based on the history.
Around here “clean fill” means soil, rocks, bricks, concrete, asphalt. Lumber is often specifically mentioned as unwanted. Signs often say, “Clean Fill Wanted, No Wood”.
Indeed. I recall years ago I worked in a newer building and the old one next door was being torn down. We could watch the progress - as the walls and floors were taken down in chunks, a machine ground it all up into large piles of what looked like homogenous rock-like material, on site. I could be wrong, but I beleive they used that material as the base of the walls and foundation of the new building that took it’s place (tilt-up variety).
And for roads - last summer we encountered a crew using a huge, lane-wide machine that appeared to tear-up the upper few inches of old, cracked asphalt, re-heat and remix it, and then lay down a fresh, clean, new layer in one swoop as it moved along - all with mostly the old asphalt material. Quite the recycling.
So, if I’m a contractor with a dump truck full of dirt, and I pass a sign that says “clean fill wanted”, can I take that as permission to dump there, or do I need to contact the property owner to ask specifically?
You also don’t necessarily know exactly where he wants it dumped. Dumping a truck load of anything without confirmed permission is asking for trouble.
In the case of hazardous waste, the producer of that waste is on the hook for it forever. I once worked for a company that was sued by the EPA because it turned out the licensed hazardous waste disposal company they were using passed the waste off to another EPA approved disposal company who a different division in the EPA later decided was using an unsafe process. Everyone down the line got sued to pay for the cleanup.