Do you have any requirement in minimum sorting rate in the US?

We need to sort out minimum 60% of the waste on site (even for construction projects). This is normally not a problem for demo though (normally approximately 75-85% for timber structures, such as single family houses, and 92-99% for larger, concrete/steel structures).

"The Norwegian Answer"

There are three major environmental aspects regarding demolition:
1. Hazardous wastes/substances in the building/constructions, such as PCB, lead, mercury, asbestos, CFC/HCFC/HCF, oil, chemicals, paint, PCP, CCA, etc. It is important that these substances are properly removed and handled correctly.

2. Sorting/recycling/material use: Construction and demolition business is one of the largest producers of waste. Due to the rapidly growth of construction work after 2.world war, and an estimated life time (50-100 years in most building), there would be increase in the demand for demolition the coming years (calculations from holland, based on the "worst" inputs (meaning low econonic growth, low increase in the population and so on), actually shows more waste from demolition, than the material input in new buildings!). So this aspect is two - side problem: Sort the waste generated and build the building with a long life time - and reduce the waste during the life time (cf. life cycle assesment). Re-use of structurs, equipment, etc is therefore the most environmental thing you can do, after avoiding waste generation, then sorting for recycling (material and energy), and finally as little as possible waste to landfil.

3. The energy used during the demolition. This is not so important at the moment - but would probably be more important in the future. We have in a few projects made energy assesment and CO2 accounting.

Other important aspects are noise, dust and vibration. Demo projects always affect the neighbours - so...