Recycle The Past While Reclaiming The Present

SUSTAINABLE LIVING | by CELESTE TELL

I LOVE TO REMODEL. Seriously. So lately, instead of disposing of old cabinets, I’ve had a local salvage company come in and take them out. For a nominal fee (sometimes even for free) companies like these will come in to your home, deconstruct and take away many different types of used building materials for resale and reuse. What could be better than that? Consider:

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• 200,000 buildings are torn down annually in the U.S.
• In Washington state, construction and demolition waste currently makes up between a 1/4 and 1/3 of landfill waste.
• Demolition of the average American home (roughly 2,000 square feet) produces 10,000 cubic feet (127 tons) of debris.
• Thirty-three million tons of construction and demolition debris are slowly decomposing in U.S. landfills each year, releasing about 5 million tons of methane gas—equivalent to the yearly emissions of 3,736,000 passenger cars—into the environment.
• The potential value of building materials returned to the economy by fully integrating deconstruction into the demolition industry is $1 billion.
• Full integration of deconstruction into the demolition industry could create 200,000 jobs!

Strategic use of building salvage, reclaimed materials and deconstruction has the potential to change the building and remodeling equation in more ways than one. You can use salvaged and reclaimed materials to create amazing design results:

• Research. Explore local and web-based resources to find kitchen cabinets, lighting, plumbing fixtures and more. You could find a special stained-glass window, vintage Hoosier Cabinet or even a stainless-steel soaking tub!
• Design. Designing with salvaged materials can yield incredible one-of-a-kind results.
• Construction. Talk to your contractor about using reclaimed materials such as brick, stone, wood, doors and flooring. Point him to local and national resources to help you both save money and save the earth at the same time!