Sustainable Industries Journal last month reported on the city's idea to reduce landfill construction waste: faster permits.

The planning department will almost immediately issue demolition permits (usually issued at the same time as construction permits) to builders who follow the department's deconstruction practices to keep waste out of landfills.

As a result, there would be almost no waiting period for the builder to start construction. The article also briefly mentions an effort by a non-profit in Los Angeles to reuse demolition waste.

Waste not only takes energy to dispose of, it also embodies the energy required to create it the material the first place. When the materials can be reused or recycled, the embodied energy can be conserved, to some degree.

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