Clean Fill Benefits

​Illinois’ communities, economy and environment all benefit from clean fill activities.

​According to Illinois law, “Clean construction or demolition debris (CCDD) is uncontaminated broken concrete without protruding metal bars, bricks, rock, stone, or reclaimed asphalt pavement generated from construction or demolition activities.”  

Regulations Ensure Safe Operation

• Accepting CCDD is a highly regulated activity:  CCDD operations are permitted and regulated by the State of Illinois and require considerable oversight by operators to ensure that only allowable CCDD materials are accepted.  The only practical alternatives for disposing of excess construction and demolition materials is landfill disposal or placement of these materials in unregulated sites such as other construction project locations or agricultural properties.  None of the safeguards required of CCDD operations exist at unregulated construction sites and farm fields.

CCDD Sites vs. Landfills

• Preservation of existing landfill capacity:  One of the original reasons for the development of CCDD regulations in Illinois, which is still fulfilled today. 
• Slowing the need for expansion of existing landfills and creation of new ones: CCDD facilities in former mines, pits, and quarries make use of land from which mineral reserves have been extracted.  Therefore, the CCDD is deposited in an area that already exists and there is no need to create new facilities for CCDD. 
• CCDD facilities accept materials that are not harmful to either human health and safety or the environment:  Unlike landfills, CCDD facilities do not accept “waste” materials that are inherently harmful to human health and safety or the environment.  Landfills have an increased potential to produce harmful leachates, and liner failures have been documented, greatly increasing the potential for substantial harm to groundwater resources.

Environmental Benefits

• CCDD sites are contained: Weather events can cause catastrophic landslides in sanitary landfills due to the enormous man-made mountain of garbage covered only by soils and vegetation.  Such events can cause harm to human health and the environment due to the potentially enormous release of waste materials.  CCDD materials are placed below the level of surrounding land in former pits or quarries. Therefore, any sliding materials will be contained within the footprint of the pit or quarry.
• Reduced air pollution:  CCDD facilities are typically located closer to where the majority of construction projects take place, often in industrial or urban areas.  Therefore, transportation time and subsequently air pollution are minimized. 
• Quarries and CCDD sites complete the construction material loop:  Not only do active mines produce beneficial aggregate products for the construction industry, they serve as a location for the deposition of CCDD materials when their useful purpose has been exhausted.

Economic and Sustainability Benefits

• Lower cost for commercial, private and public works construction projects:  Tipping fees for a semi-truck load of material at a landfill can be more than five times greater than a load of material at a CCDD facility.
• Reduced transportation costs:  CCDD facilities located adjacent to an active mine commonly offer aggregate products for sale.  Trucks delivering CCDD can also haul back such products.  This not only saves on cartage costs, but also reduces fuel consumption and air emissions over trips to separate locations for material disposal at a landfill and product pick up at an aggregate mine. 
• Reduced wear and tear on roadways: Extensive trips to distant landfills can increase road degradation along these routes resulting in increased maintenance costs.
• Tax revenue savings:  A large portion of CCDD material comes from public projects such as utilities (sewer or water main) and road construction.  Local governments realize substantial savings from utilizing CCDD facilities rather than sanitary landfills.

Community Benefits

• Mined land reclamation: Most CCDD operations are located at quarries or sand and gravel pits and thus CCDD material is utilized to help stabilize and contour the mined land and return it to useful purposes like wildlife habitat or housing and industrial development.
• In comparison to landfills, CCDD facilities are more compatible with industrial and urban environments:  CCDD materials do not decompose or produce common byproducts of decomposition such as Carbon Dioxide and flammable Methane, nor do they release other chemical liquid byproducts that can be very harmful to human health and safety or the environment.  Additionally, CCDD materials do not create offensive odors or attract vermin.

Links to websites for additional information
Illinois Environmental Protection Agency CCDD and USFO Regulations
Illinois Pollution Control Board
Illinois State Chamber of Commerce
Illinois Environmental Regulatory Group

More information about...
Air
Water
​Noise

Hydrogeologist explains issues related to CCDD operations

Amicus (friend of the court) brief to the Illinois Supreme Court​

​Regulatory compliance member resources

Essentials for Contractors Workshop February 20, 2025

​

• Illinois currently has the MOST STRINGENT regulations on CCDD (clean fill) in the country.  The program is designed with very thorough front-end protections ensuring material is clean before it ever goes to a clean fill site.  This is why after hearing all the evidence, the IL Pollution Control Board determined mandated groundwater monitoring was unnecessary – a decision that was affirmed by the IL Supreme Court.
• CCDD is limited by law to clean soil, broken up concrete without protruding rebar, rock, stone, bricks and reclaimed asphalt pavement.  Since most concrete and reclaimed pavement is recycled, the overwhelming majority of material going into clean fill (CCDD) sites is uncontaminated soil.
• It makes sense from an environmental and sustainability standpoint to deposit clean materials at a CCDD site as part of the reclamation process versus trucking the materials greater distances and needlessly filling landfills.  Using clean fill to reclaim a former quarry also allows the property to be reclaimed for future beneficial use (residential, commercial, recreational)
• The costs of mandated groundwater monitoring would force many operators to close – forcing clean material to be hauled (usually much greater distances) to landfills where the tipping fees are several times higher will significantly increase construction costs.  IDOT previously estimated (before the capital bill) that not having CCDD sites as an option for clean material disposal would add about $100 million annually to their construction costs.  The increased work from Rebuild Illinois will likely more than double that estimate.  In addition, during hearings before the IL Pollution Control Board the Public Building Commission of Chicago estimated that the increased costs of not having a CCDD sites available for its projects that year would be an additional $29 million.  Closing CCDD operations would have a significant financial impact to the state, local governments and the entire construction industry.
• CCDD sites are very different from landfills – they are sustainable reclamation sites that only accept certain inert materials verified to be clean which are compacted at the site.  Landfills accept a wide variety of waste products which generate leachate requiring liners and other measures to prevent contamination.

 

---