Recovery & Off-Site Reuse of SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA &c

The construction sector in developed countries generates the most waste. Construction waste and demolition debris (C&D)  is the single largest contributor to landfills in the United States. The US Environmental Protection Agency estimates that 150 million tons of building-related waste is generated annually, which is 25% to 40% of the national solid waste stream (of which 9% is construction waste, 38% is renovation waste, and 53% is demolition debris). EPA also estimates that only 20% of this C&D waste is being recycled.

Just one of over 100 crates and pallets delivered to my job site and then consigned to landfill

The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) course I'm taking actively seeks to address this issue through green building practices. Minimize environmental impact by dramatically reducing waste to landfill, by encouraging and facilitating sustainable purchasing.

Construction Wastes Hierarchy

As the chart above shows, while off-site reuse of construction waste is low on the totem pole, it is not the worst. At the project closeout phase of a superior court I'd worked on up in NorCal, I noticed cases of cast steel alphabets that were destined for the nearest landfill. These letters were the smaller siblings of the "SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA" my team was installing.

Inspecting my crew's work-in-progress

The completed facade.

I had one of the laborers put two cases of the discarded letters in my truck. The cases remained in storage for a couple of years, forgotten.

Contemporary art now has subdivisions such as found art or  found object (objet trouvé); commodity sculpture; trash art or junk art. The illustration below of an art installation shows how a collection of discarded industrial and plumbing valve handles (probably from a building's demolition) may be magically transformed into art.

Objet Trouvé of valve handles

The idea is pretty much the same for this piece of functional art, if one can call it that, composed of discarded heavy gauge steel.

Functional montage of distressed heavy gauge steel

In his book Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things, William McDonough suggests technical waste should become industrial food. Why not food for art? Needless I'm motivated to make a work of art with all the materials I've collected over the years from past projects. Transforming "Superior Court of California" into a 'work of art' through anagrams is my latest work-in-progress. Though motivated, I doubt it will be anywhere near the league of my paternal uncle, foremost contemporary Indian sculptor Ravinder Reddy.

An inventory count of the letters I have at my disposal for an exercise or two in anagrams: S-U-P-E-R-I-O-R-C-O-U-R-T-O-F-C-A-L-I-F-O-R-N-I-A-O-F-O-A-A-O-O-T-S-U-C-L-N-O-F-I-P-U-I-R-I-R-R. Feel free to send me your anagrams, suggestions.