KUNC host Nikole Robinson Carroll spoke with The Colorado Sun Health and Environment Reporter Michael Booth Tuesday about recycling an entire hospital in Boulder.
Booth told KUNC Boulder had an old community hospital that had been shuttered for three years at Balsam and Broadway. The five-story building’s parts were given new life after a months-long deconstruction process, spurred on by sustainability mandates passed by Boulder City Council in 2020. The Sun reports there have been approximately three deconstruction projects in Boulder each year since that ordinance took effect.
“You need to try to recycle and reuse up to 75% of a building” under Boulder's Energy Conservation Code, Booth said. “Whether it's a home (or) whether it's a major commercial building like a hospital or an office building when you are deconstructing it.”
Since the requirements took effect in March 2020—and before the hospital recycling project took place, just under 75% of deconstruction waste in Boulder had been diverted from landfills. After the hospital was recycled, that rate has risen to nearly 87 percent.
A lot of the old hospital’s building materials, such as bricks and concrete, were kept at the site for the construction of affordable housing and for use in future development.
“There are enormous steel beams, some of which went into Fire Station No. 3, which was being rebuilt in Boulder,” Booth said. “You can't see them, but you can drive by the fire station and know that those steel beams - up to two tons each - are being reused there.”
Booth said other building materials, like doors, are up for grabs for residents who need them. The Circular Boulder page has information about inventory and available services.
