Construction material waste became a landscaper's treasure!

Burnham Institute for Medical Research at Lake Nona
Orlando, Florida

As the project team at the Burnham Institute prepared to meet its requirements to achieve LEED Silver certification, multiple vendors were identified that could recycle wood, concrete, metal, cardboard and plastic; however; none of these vendors would accept drywall. Thus, a unique program was born. In a first-of-its-kind program for Central Florida, the project team partnered with a landscaping company and a local sod farmer to develop a cutting-edge solution. The resulting innovative process included grinding the leftover drywall scraps and adding them into fertilizer for sod farming. By implementing this program, the team was able to divert more than 100 tons of scrap drywall from landfills.

Scheduled Project Completion: 2009