Demonstration of Benefits, Feasibility, and Transferability of Recycled Drywall Gypsum as an Agricultural Soil Amendment

The construction of an average single family home generates nearly one ton of new, uncontaminated drywall waste. The large amount of waste material is generally dumped into landfills, where moist anaerobic conditions stimulate bacterial reduction of drywall’s sulfate component into potentially harmful hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide gas in landfills. An innovative solution that would diver drywall scrap from the waste stream is to recycle it for use as a natural soil amendment. Gypsum is an excellent and proven natural fertilizer and soil amendment that can be found in drywall. The purpose of this project is to develop, test, and promote the use of recycled drywall gypsum as an effective natural soil amendment, and demonstrate a model local recycling and use program.