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Collaborating to Normalize Material Recycling

With mounting climate and carbon pressures, leadership depends on collaborating across disciplines, communicating value clearly, and convincing stakeholders to act—especially in existing buildings. This session explores recycling construction materials as a practical, low‑risk circular strategy especially in policy‑driven retrofit markets like NYC under Local Law 97. Using architectural glass as a main case study, presenters will show how specification, coordination, and metrics can reduce waste and embodied carbon within familiar project workflows.

Event Date
Thursday, October 15, 2026 - 1:45 PM to 2:45 PM
Room / Location
Innovation Space

Session Speakers

Learning Objectives

Identify and implement specific project‑delivery strategies, such as demolition‑specification language and coordination workflows, to integrate material reclamation and recycling into renovation and retrofit projects

Assess and compare the cost, risk, schedule, and embodied‑carbon impacts of end‑of‑service‑life recycling in urban retrofit projects, using real‑world case data to inform project and owner decisions

Define and coordinate clear roles, responsibilities, and communication pathways among owners, designers, contractors, waste haulers, and recyclers to enable successful material recovery across the project lifecycle

Communicate and justify the environmental, policy, and business case for recycling, using regulation, metrics, and specific project experience to persuade stakeholders to adopt circularity as standard practice

CEU Information

Pending approval for 1 credit hour toward AIA, BOC, BPI, NARI, Phius, and RESNET certification

Session ID
NYC26-404