If you live in Metro Vancouver and have ever tried to dispose of drywall you’ve probably quickly realized what a headache it is to figure how to do it properly. While drywall can be a pain to deal with, doing so properly is important as it can sometimes contain asbestos. When recycled properly, drywall is “infinitely” recyclable as it can be ground up and pressed into new sheets of drywall over and over and over and over and over again.
Of you are a resident in Metro Vancouver you can take a maximum of 10 bags weighing 10 kg per visit 5 times per year. This drywall can be new, old, containing asbestos, not containing asbestos, etc etc. For the exact (and it needs to be exact!) instructions on how to deal with drywall yourself you can go to the Metro Vancouver website here.
New drywall can be disposed of at the Vancouver Landfill and most Transfer Stations as well as at New West Gypsum Recycling. New drywall is date stamped and has no mud or tape or screw holes, or dirt, or any evidence that it is anything other than a brand new off cut of unused and recently manufactured.
If you would like us to handle the drywall disposal instead you just need to check to make sure there is a date stamp on the drywall sheet itself that clearly shows a manufacture date after January 1st 1990, this is found either on the edge of the drywall or on the back/paper side of the drywall sheet. Unfortunately, each drywall manufacturer has their own ideas of where to put the date stamp and how many date stamps they put on each sheet of drywall so you might have to do some searching for it. Date stamps on the removable paper tape on the one edge of the sheet don’t qualify but they can be a helpful indicator if you should keep looking for a date stamp. New West Gypsum Recycling has some handy photos of what to look out for here.
When drywall has no date stamp it means you have to have it tested by a lab to check for the presence of asbestos. Typically asbestos is found in the drywall mud and tape so when submitted a sample to be tested make sure you include a piece of drywall that has mud and tap on it. If you are renovating a large space or multiple rooms that are painted different colours, make sure to include sufficient samples to cover the space. Drywall that has any textured (popcorn) paint on it must also be tested as it commonly contained asbestos pre1990. A hard copy of the test results must accompany each load of drywall. Test results are valid for 6 months.
Here are some labs to reach out to for testing (no affiliation)
ACE Environmental Services
Kinetic OHS Services
It’s important to note that tile backer products like Densshield, Densglass, or greenboard are all considered to be gypsum containing material and are handled like drywall. Often when you are doing a bathroom or kitchen renovation you will come across drywall with tile attached to it, thankfully you don’t have to separate the two however if you are taking the drywall yourself then the tile will quickly eat into your 10kg per bag weight limit. That being said, drywall must always be separated from other waste as Metro Vancouver has strict rules in place for its handling and garbage loads containing drywall are subject to heavy fines from Metro Vancouver.