Debris from Matteson shopping center being recycled
A little bit of the shuttered Lincoln Mall in Matteson could be in your garden.
As work continues demolishing the structure, huge amounts of debris are being recycled or reused, according to Matt Konopko, whose company is overseeing the work.
Metals such as steel, aluminum and copper pulled from the 711,000-square-foot mall are being recycled, while wood that’s being retrieved by workers for Environmental Cleansing Corp. is finding new life as garden mulch, Konopko, ECC’s president, said. The wood is shredded and in some instances a colorant is added, he said.
The entire mall, which opened in 1973, is coming down, with the exception of the Carson Pirie Scott store, which remains open for business.
Matteson officials hope that having the empty buildings demolished will improve the chances of the property being redeveloped.
Concrete that is being knocked down is being ground up on-site and could be used as a sub base for new streets as part of a redevelopment, Konopko said.
“That’s about as green as you can get,” he said.
His company started the demolition in early May, and the job is about two-thirds complete, Konopko said, with the vacant Sears anchor store gone as well as about half of the mall itself. He estimated it will be about another five weeks before the job is done.
After taking down what remains of the structure, the company will break up the concrete ground floor and foundation walls, he said.
Piles of crushed concrete will be piled against the west foundation wall, closer to Carson’s. That is where there is a steep drop-off from the upper-level mall parking lot and the lower-level lot, and making a sloping hill with the rubble will hopefully prevent any injuries from someone who might topple off the edge, Konopko said.
While much of the demolition debris will find a new use, some things, including roofing material and insulation, are being hauled to a landfill, he said.
While a large fence encircles the job site, Konopko said there is no way of knowing whether people are finding their way in and scouring the mounds of scrap metal with an eye toward making a few bucks. Overall, he said, “the project’s been going very well.”
Environmental Cleansing Corp. estimates that as much as 90 percent of material generated at one of its demolition jobs is recycled. Matt and his brother, Dave, founded ECC in 1991 “with a pickup truck, sledgehammer and a wheelbarrow,” Matt Konopko said.
Matteson last year bought, for $525,000, Sears Holdings’ property at the mall, which includes the retailer’s vacant anchor store space and adjacent parking areas.
Although the village doesn’t own the entire mall property, a court order earlier this year regarding the demolition gives Matteson authority to clear the entire structure.
The mall, southeast of the intersection of U.S. 30 and Cicero Avenue, was closed in early 2015.
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