The environmentally friendly clean-up process will take three to four weeks, compared with the typical three to four days using traditional methods. Coeling plans to recycle 70 percent of what is left of a two-story building at 1500/1502 Wealthy St. SE.
A company named Grand Renovations is doing the work. They in turn sell the materials to firms that recycle.
Green jobs -- which involve recycling -- have picked up in the past couple of years for the 16-year-old business.
Metal is being sent to Louis Padnos Iron & Metal Company. Brick and concrete heads to Pitsch Cos. or another crushing plant.
The difference between recycling concrete and brick can be a savings of more than $30 per ton.
"That can add up to three or four thousand dollars on a job of this scope," said Coeling, explaining the savings cover the additional labor required.
Pitsch Cos. charges $2 ton to recycle brick and concrete at its crushing plant at 200 North Park St., and $35 ton for what goes into its Belding landfill.
The crushed concrete and brick are resold for road gravel, said Steven Pitsch, who operates the business his parents, Loren and Arlene, started in 1958 with his siblings, Lewis and Laura.
Louis Padnos Iron & Metal pays for the metal scraps brought to its operations for recycling, which range from old pipes to heavy beams. The company has expanded beyond metallic to papers, plastics, fibers and even shrink wrap used to protect boats.
Last I knew they were still investigating why the building blew up - it was a gas leak, but I'm not sure if they located it or not. A broken pipe was found in front of the building, but they couldn't tell if it was previously cracked or caused by the explosion.