CCDD is an Illinois regulatory category, and it is the single biggest reason two demolition quotes on the same building can be thousands apart.
CCDD stands for Clean Construction or Demolition Debris. In Illinois it is a defined regulatory category under the Environmental Protection Act, not a description somebody made up. It covers uncontaminated broken concrete without protruding metal, brick, rock, stone, reclaimed asphalt pavement, and soil generated from construction or demolition. The word doing the work in that sentence is uncontaminated.
Material that qualifies as CCDD goes to a CCDD fill site. Material that does not goes to a landfill and gets charged a tipping fee by the ton. That is the same truckload of concrete at two very different prices, decided by whether it is clean and by how far the accepting site is from your property.
Rebar sticking out is the common one — concrete with protruding metal is not clean fill until the metal is dealt with. So is anything painted with lead paint, anything with asbestos-containing material mixed in, soil with a petroleum smell to it, and any load with wood, drywall, roofing or trash mixed through the concrete. One contaminated load can turn a clean-fill haul into a landfill haul.
CCDD sites are not everywhere. In some counties around here the nearest one that will take a load is a real drive, and haul distance is a line on your job whether anybody itemizes it for you or not. When a demolition quote is unusually low, the honest question is not whether the contractor is cheaper — it is where they are planning to put your concrete.
We separate on site. Clean concrete stays clean, metal comes out for scrap, and the rest is sorted so we are not paying landfill rates on material that did not need to go there. If burying clean concrete on your own property in the hole makes sense and is allowed, we will tell you that too — sometimes the cheapest disposal is no haul at all.
Uncontaminated broken concrete without protruding metal qualifies as clean construction or demolition debris. Concrete with rebar sticking out of it, lead-painted concrete, or concrete mixed with wood, drywall or trash does not until it is separated. The distinction matters because clean material goes to a CCDD fill site and the rest goes to a landfill by the ton.
Sometimes, and it is worth asking about, because the cheapest disposal is the haul you never make. It depends on the material being genuinely clean, on how deep it can go below finished grade, on what you plan to do with the ground afterward, and on local rules. We look at it at the site walk and tell you straight whether it is an option on your property.
Disposal is usually the answer. The building above grade is fairly predictable; where the debris ends up is not. A quote built on a nearby clean-fill site and a quote built on a landfill haul are two different jobs on paper even though the teardown is identical.
Free, itemized, on-site estimates across central Illinois. Here is what to photograph, or see the rest of the plain-English glossary.