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Today's Reality

The building industry has long been a strong component of Washington’s economy. Since the early 1980’s, the construction industry has represented about 5 percent of the gross state product in Washington. In 2000, this was $11.3 billion of Washington’s economy.

This vibrant industry has important benefits for our communities, but many do not recognize the negative effects that building design, construction activities and building use can have on the economy:

• Residential and commercial buildings used nearly two-thirds of all electricity consumed in the U.S. in 2003.
• Sixty percent of the total annual use of ozone-depleting substances in the U.S. is for building construction and building systems.
• Design and construction of buildings in the U.S. created 136 million tons of waste in 1996.
• Buildings account for 60 percent of the raw material (non-food and non-fuel) consumption in the U.S.

As much as 61 percent of the construction and demolition waste generated each year in Washington is diverted from disposal, which seems to exceed national rates. Construction and demolition debris consists mainly of wood, concrete, gypsum, roofing, glass, carpet and pad, metals, asphalt, bricks, and porcelain. However, a significant percentage of this diverted waste is downcycled, or diverted to lower-value uses. For example, a primary use of salvaged wood waste is to burn it as a fuel for industrial boilers, which is a higher value use than landfilling, but is still a consumptive use. This use of wood may be less desirable than turning wood waste into finger-jointed studs or roof trusses depending on other factors such as transportation costs to factories.

Buildings also contain potentially dangerous or hazardous substances including:

• Arsenic, chromium, lead, pentachlorophenol, or creosote pesticides in treated wood products.
• Asbestos, lead, mercury or other known toxic substances, such as polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE) flame-retardants and polyvinyl chloride (PVC), as found in paints and coatings, plumbing, fluorescent lighting, batteries, thermostats, siding, flooring, insulation, vinyl, plaster, wallboard, and other materials.

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