As Nashville’s east side undergoes one of the most aggressive redevelopment cycles in the country – anchored by projects like the new Tennessee Titans stadium—the volume of construction debris has surged.
But a different story is emerging behind the scenes. What was once considered waste is now treated as a resource. The way it’s managed could reshape the construction industry nationally.
At the center of that shift is Rockwood Sustainable Solutions, a Lebanon, Tennessee-based company that has moved beyond traditional hauling and disposal to a new model: one focused on material recovery, end-market creation and infrastructure-level sustainability.
While large-scale sorting facilities have helped push recycling rates from single digits to roughly 50 percent locally, Rockwood’s recent projects have achieved material recovery rates of 98 percent.
That performance level isn’t the result of better sorting alone – it’s the result of a fundamentally different approach.
“Most of the industry starts with the question, ‘How do we move this waste?” said Lincoln Young, president of Rockwood. “We start with, ‘What can this material become?’ We build the system backwards from there.”
Rockwood was founded on the premise that “we’re not a waste company that looks for ways to recycle. Rockwood is a recycling company that figures out unique ways to transform waste.”
Wood, plastics, metals, drywall and organics are repurposed into everything from agricultural products and engineered materials to site infrastructure and energy inputs. Instead of relying on centralized facilities, Rockwood pushes material separation upstream onto jobsites.
Their Tommy Carts® system allows crews to sort materials in tight, urban environments where traditional roll-off containers are inefficient, unsafe, or impractical. The result is improved material purity, safer working conditions, and more efficient logistics. When a roll off is the best tool for the job, Rockwood works closely with partners.
The broader impact goes beyond any single project. Rockwood works with national developers, contractors and research institutions to build repeatable systems that scale across markets, turning construction waste from a liability into a high value material stream.
In a world where construction debris accounts for nearly 30 percent of global waste, that shift has significant implications not just for sustainability goals but for how cities grow.
Published October 2026
