Disasters turn homes into trash. This insurance company aims to recycle it

Floods soak entire basements into piles of muddy and soggy furniture, wood and drywall. Hailstorms smash windows and take chunks out of siding. High winds topple trees through rooftops.

Big storms and other disasters can quickly turn parts of homes into trash. Rebuilding and repairs can add to the pile of construction, renovation and demolition (CRD) waste. 

But one Canadian insurance company is trying to change that. 

The Co-operators Insurance has launched a pilot project to recycle waste from insurance claims in Calgary and London, Ont. 

Michelle Laidlaw is the associate vice-president at Co-operators in charge of home insurance, who also leads related resiliency and sustainability initiatives.

After the floods in Ontario and Quebec this summer, the impact was obvious in media footage and photos.

"There's so much waste," Laidlaw said, referring to the pictures of curbside piles of mattresses and broken planks of wood.

And it's only growing, as climate change fuels heavier rains and more powerful storms – this year was a record year for insurance claims from extreme weather events in Canada, which had already topped $7 billion in insured losses by September.

Right now, Laidlaw said, 98 per cent of waste generated from insurance claims goes to landfills in North America, adding to the CRD waste that occupies almost a third of our dumps.

But a lot of CRD waste can be recycled — it just often isn't.

A few years ago, Laidlaw's colleague Karen Flamand, who has since retired, proposed looking into the possibility of recycling insurance waste.

So Co-operators approached the Circular Innovation Council, an organization funded by industry and non-profit groups to develop new recycling and reuse systems to reduce waste.

Andrew Telfer, the council's director, said he was "very excited" by the idea.

In early September, it helped Co-operators launch pilots with TRY Recycling in London, Ont., and Alberta Waste and Recycling in Calgary. Both recycling companies have specialized in CRD waste for more than 17 years.

How it works

When a disaster like a flood happens, panicked homeowners call their insurance company. The insurance company partners with restoration companies that assess the damage and report back. If the insurance company agrees to cover the loss, the restoration company will typically work to get the home back to the condition it was in before the disaster.

First, there's a demolition and deconstruction stage that might involve removing damaged furniture, flooring, drywall and other materials. That's responsible for the largest portion of home insurance waste, said Adam Tzarik, vice-president of business development DKI Canada, one of the restoration companies participating in the pilot.

A smaller amount comes from the construction stage, when wood framing, drywall and other materials are cut to size and the ends discarded.

What is recyclable varies locally depending on what local recycling facilities can process, and what local businesses can make use of the waste to turn it into new products. 

Dan Zembal, owner of Alberta Waste and Recycling, said his facility recycles materials that include drywall, wood, asphalt shingles, metal and cardboard. TRI recycling in London, Ont., has a similar list.

Zembal said burned material from fires isn't recyclable. Nor is waste contaminated with hazardous material such as black mould or asbestos. But most other materials can be turned into new products — for example, new drywall from recycled drywall or animal bedding from recycled wood.

Zembal is currently looking into a way to recycle vinyl siding, as so much came in after the Calgary hailstorms this summer. "We're always looking at what more can we pull out cost effectively and and sustainably," he said, adding that he's talking to local siding manufacturers about the possible uses of the material.

Shawn Tracey, regional vice-president for central Ontario at restoration company Winmar, said he's very aware of the garbage generated at insurance job sites. "Going to the landfill's the most economical process right now, but that's not sustainable going forward," he said. 

His company had started trying to recycle by separating waste into a handful of different bins. But finding places to recycle each material was a challenge. To make things more difficult, neighbours would dump random garbage into the bins, contaminating them, Tracey said.

Increased recycling already

With the Co-operators pilot, TRY Recycling sorts the waste at its recycling facility, and it can recycle many more materials, such as drywall or wood with nails.

"It's a big load off of us to help divert and create a more sustainable process for all of us," Tracey said, adding he estimates his company is now able to recycle 30 to 50 per cent more material than before. 

Branden Fraser, general manager for restoration company Paul Davis in Calgary, said he started his own program to track and recycle the company's waste in May.

Soon after, he heard about the Co-operators pilot, and it made sense to participate.

He's also seen a huge reduction in the waste that ends up in a landfill after an insurance claim — now the only materials going to the dump are those contaminated by sewage, mould or fire.

He said there is some extra time and cost involved in recycling, as each material needs to be weighed and documented.

Telfer says the pilot aims to determine how much waste is being diverted and recycled and hopes to increase that over time. Another question is how much extra it costs compared to sending everything to the dump, and whether those costs can be reduced. He says he hopes the processes developed in the pilot would make it easier for other insurance companies to recycle also.

The restoration companies involved in the pilot say they're now recycling materials from claims with other insurance companies too, as it's easiest to train staff to use the same steps at every job site.

Fraser said he hopes this is something that will catch on with other insurance companies too.

"It doesn't make sense that we're throwing all this stuff away," Fraser said. "We can recycle a lot of things and … it doesn't change your everyday business as much as I would have thought."