Wasteful - Just not thinking!

It always amazes me to see dumpsters drive away full of building construction debris.  It may be garbage to the contractor or the owner, but to me it is a box full of treasures.  Beautiful oak flooring that just needs a facelift, old doors that can be reused or even converted into something else, raw lumber that can be used to make a new wall or even a treehouse, large pieces of structural lumber that can become a new header for a door or window.  Just taking apart older homes, previous renovations and existing buildings leads to a lot of construction waste.  Mounds of waste, that can be saved.  

I want to scream out to the contractor just tossing it away = Hey Mr. Neighbor... Did you realize you can reuse that stuff? Or give it to Someone else?  On average over 8,000 pounds of waste are thrown into a landfill for the construction of a 2,000 sq foot home!  Yes you read that right! That is incredible. And then you go out and purchase more of the same stuff to finish your project!

During my own construction project we just finished I did my own "dumpster diving".   Yes its exactly what it sounds like. Jumping inside of the dumpster pulling out all things recyclable and then folding, cutting and tying it up putting it on the curb every other Friday. As we did demolition we saved 2x4's put them in a pile under the porch for use later, we saved old cabinets, repainted them and rebuilt them to suit our newer needs. Did you know PVC pipe can be recycled? Copper tube? iron pipes? Most likely not. 

What about separating your garbage in the dumpsters to make it easier to find the right place? Doing a bit of excavation are you? Well have a small dumpster on site for concrete and block, that can be recycled into new concrete, find you have clean fill because you are creating a basement? Well don't just put garbage on top of it, then it is impossible to reuse?  Being proactive in your project will allow your contractor to have a heads up on your garbage thoughts! 

Well here is my advice, you pay for everything you bring into your home, even packaging. They you pay to get rid of it, and pay a third time to by the new stuff replacing the old.  Why not recycle what you can, reuse what is good, reduce your expenses, and in the end save thousands of pounds of garbage from going into landfills! 

When your asked: are you kidding me? I always say no, Im not kidding, that old 2x6's could be reused, the old doors from your home may be great in someone else's.  www.freecycle.org is an excellent place to give away your unwanted items to people who do want them. 

Start to take responsibility for your own projects you will quickly see that others will follow in your shoes, each reducing our global impact!  I know my small circles have taken note, and now the contractors on my job are a little more guilty every-time they throw something away.  Perhaps I have even converted one or two. So now I'm know as the nutter to work for, but that is OK, because I know I've done my part today! 

Enjoy your next construction project.  

Anastasia