Grant award strengthens WSU and DTG Recycle's innovative waste-to-building material endeavor
Drywall Waste Blocks aim to increase demand for recycled gypsum from construction and demolition projects
We will scale up the WSU technology, produce the blocks, and leverage our existing customers for distribution and sales."”
MILL CREEK, WA, UNITED STATES, October 16, 2020 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Washington State University1 in partnership with DTG Recycle2, the largest commercial recycler of construction, demolition, industrial, and manufacturing waste in the Pacific Northwest, gains support from the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust3 commercialization grant in their endeavor to give a second life to construction waste as innovative building materials.— Tom Vaughn
WSU, with support from DTG Recycle, is pioneering a unique technology that aims to recycle and convert drywall into patent-pending Drywall Waste Blocks (DWB).
Drywall (also known as plasterboard, wallboard, sheetrock, gypsum board) is a common and inexpensive material used in commercial and residential construction. The sheets are cut on-site, resulting in 10-12% waste (Crangle 2017) and constitutes about 9% of construction waste (CDRA 2017). Gypsum is historically known to be low valued, with limited recycle uses. Many municipalities have banned drywall disposal to landfills (Lederman et al. 2015; King County 2017) because it can produce noxious hydrogen sulfide gas in landfill conditions.
"The public response so far has been phenomenal, and we're excited to facilitate the growth of this highly sustainable technology." says John Martin, Associate General Counsel of DTG Recycle. According to WSU, the Drywall Waste Blocks can be made into different shapes and colors, and have such benefits as being fireproof, up to ten times more insulative value than standard concrete blocks, and weigh half as much.
"DTG Recycle is uniquely positioned to work with WSU on this project because we perform the front-end portion of the process already (i.e., collection, transportation, and grinding to produce gypsum powder). We will scale up the WSU technology, produce the blocks, and leverage our existing customers for distribution and sales." says Tom Vaughn, CEO of DTG Recycle. "For many of our customers, we envision drywalls scraps from their larger projects being turned into drywall blocks and then reincorporated into those same projects."
About DTG Recycle
DTG Recycle is the largest commercial recycler of construction, demolition, industrial, and manufacturing waste in the Pacific Northwest. We strive for a zero-waste future through innovative sorting techniques and developing products and alternative energy fuels made from recycled materials. With nearly 300 employees, over 1,000 roll-off and recycling containers, and nine material recovery facilities, we offer convenient, innovative ways to recycle with the industry's best customer service. We are Customer Focused, Planet Obsessed. Learn more at https://www.dtgrecycle.com/
Ryan Jackman
DTG Recycle
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1 https://news.wsu.edu/2020/10/06/murdock-grant-support-bricks-waste-project/
2 https://www.dtgrecycle.com/
3 https://murdocktrust.org/