vision
Contractors at the Salvaged Materials Market ignored the mounds of misshapen supplies, but Carmelo saw in them the creation of his masterpiece. The sculptor spent an hour searching around to gather everything he needed, then pushed his cart full of discarded treasures out the door.
Each footstep fed his soul, leading him to a four-story makerspace graffitied in the community's cultural mismatch style. Carmelo floated into a curtained corner, spilled his belongings, and began selecting and placing parts of his work in progress, dancing to bring his dreams out of the darkness of his mind and into the light of the studio.
— Drabble Written by Siris Valentine
Spotlight
We tend to think of buildings as semi-permanent structures. Once it rises, it takes decades, even centuries, to fall. But when they happen, it's usually under the weight of a wrecking ball or sledgehammer. The shattered remains of the buildings that once protected us are often thrown into landfills.Almost every year This debris is 150 million tons In the United States alone, trash is piling up in garbage dumps.
The act of constructing new buildings or demolishing old ones worldwide consumes approximately one-third Of the total resources extracted from the environment each year and It produces just under a third of the world's waste. But some cities across the country are starting to push the construction industry to keep materials out of landfills. The goal is to reuse some of the old building in the new building and recycle the rest.
In 2016, Portland, Oregon became the first city in the country to Demolition ordinanceIt requires all single-family homes built before 1940 and scheduled for removal to be demolished, or broken down board by board, so that the materials can be salvaged and reused. Since then, even more half a dozen City from san antonio to pittsburgh We followed Portland's example.
“Ideally, what is taken out of these homes would be used for the same purpose,” said Stephanie Phillips, demolition and circular economy program manager for the city of San Antonio. Like Portland, his 2022 ordinance in San Antonio specifically requires that older historic homes be demolished if they fall.
That's at least in part because the best, and sometimes only, way to get the right materials to restore a historic building is from another house built in the same era. “Building retrofits are considered the pinnacle of climate-smart architecture,” says Phillips.
![Three people wearing hard hats and reflective vests stand after work dismantling the skeleton of a wooden building.](https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/San-Antonio-deconstruction-LF.jpg?w=1200)
![Three people wearing hard hats and reflective vests stand after work dismantling the skeleton of a wooden building.](https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/San-Antonio-deconstruction-LF.jpg?w=1200)
Contractors perform residential demolition work as part of training in San Antonio in late 2022. City of San Antonio Historic Preservation Office
A few cities are going even further.Boulder, Colorado is one of only two cities in the nation (the other is palo altoCalifornia) requires demolition. any building The rate will be reduced regardless of the age of the building or whether it is residential or commercial. Boulder's ordinance also includes so-called „mandatory minimums.“ At least 75 percent of a building's total weight must be diverted from landfills through reuse or recycling.
Jackie Kirouac Flam, executive director of a Portland-based nonprofit Rebuilding centerbelieves that minimum mandates are necessary to achieve the purpose of these demolition ordinances, which is to recover quality materials that are affordable and available to homeowners, builders, and artisans. . Without this requirement, Portland's recovery rate would have been particularly low, Kirouac-Frum said. (Official statistics are not available, and city representatives did not respond to requests for comment.)
The city of San Antonio also doesn't have a minimum requirement, but Phillips said the city's contractors recover, on average, 70 percent of a given building's weight, and more than half of the recovered materials are recycled. It is said that it will be used. Phillips attributes these numbers to the in-depth city-sponsored training that contractors must undergo to qualify to join San Antonio's list. Certified demolition contractor.
![A pile of wooden planks is placed in the foreground of a wooded area. People in helmets and veterinarians in reflective gear roam around the mountain.](https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/San-Antonio-lumber-LF.jpg?w=1200)
![A pile of wooden planks is placed in the foreground of a wooded area. People in helmets and veterinarians in reflective gear roam around the mountain.](https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/San-Antonio-lumber-LF.jpg?w=1200)
Wood, bricks, doors and other recycled materials are piled up on the side of a demolition training yard in San Antonio. City of San Antonio Historic Preservation Office
Meanwhile, Emily Freeman, the city's policy advisor on the circular economy, said that despite Boulder's minimum mandate, the city doesn't provide much training for its local workforce and has no certification requirements. It is said that it has not been established. As a result, some contractors may exploit loopholes to meet requirements with little recovery for two-by-four homes, and property owners have few tools to evaluate the bids they receive. Freeman said they were being asked to compare „apples and kiwis“.
In the worst case she's seen so far, contractors have removed not only the patio furniture and mulched trees on the property, but also the heaviest parts of the building to meet the requirement to repurpose 75 percent of the building's weight. I also used the basics.
This reveals another challenge when it comes to mandatory minimums. Such requirements often do not differentiate between reuse and recycling, which are ideal forms of waste diversion. For example, if the wood is not sorted and stored so that it can later be retrieved and incorporated into a new project, it may instead be sent to a chipper and processed into lumber. particle board.
To address these issues, Freeman and his colleagues are considering reviewing and strengthening some of Boulder's demolition operations. This could include holding training and establishing a list of certified contractors similar to San Antonio's to ensure everyone has the same best-practice protocols. Freeman hopes these changes will help the city of Boulder achieve the vision he saw in 2023 in short order. abandoned hospital.of £65 million building, the city recycled or recovered 60.8 million pounds, or 93.5 percent of the building's weight. This includes the use of structural steel in his two new buildings: a city-owned fire station and a golf course clubhouse.
Transferring salvaged materials to other buildings is something that organizations such as the Rebuild Center in Kirouac Fulham aim to facilitate. This is where salvaged materials are stored for Portland residents to purchase at low or no cost.San Antonio launches its own service Material Innovation Center To find the next best use for salvaged materials, such as bus shelters, garden beds, and affordable home repairs.
![Image of hand towel dispensers and mirrors lined up against the wall of an empty concrete building.](https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Boulder-hospital-LF.jpg?w=1200)
![Image of hand towel dispensers and mirrors lined up against the wall of an empty concrete building.](https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Boulder-hospital-LF.jpg?w=1200)
Paper towel dispensers and mirrors collected inside an abandoned Boulder hospital that is being demolished. boulder city
But many of these cities still have one final challenge: getting contractors to use the salvaged materials on their projects. In some cases, the issue is one of ease and availability. Contractors don't want to waste time browsing through piles of mismatched materials when they might not be able to find the material they need. Builders may also need to be confident that reusing old materials in new construction will not compromise the integrity of the building.
Boulder is struggling to close this part of the reuse loop. The city incorporated many of the metal beams salvaged from the old hospital into the new city-owned site, but some remaining steel remains. City officials are still talking with a Boulder builder to find someone to take what's left.
„We just have to convince the construction community that recycled steel is strong,“ Freeman said. She hopes people will see other buildings standing strong with salvaged steel and start using it in their own projects.
— Siris Valentine
further exposure
parting shot
Habitat for Humanity, an organization that provides affordable housing, sells used household items in its stores. restoration. Shoppers can find more than just furniture. Stores often stock building materials such as doors and windows, as well as toilets, sinks, and bathtubs. Here, volunteers stock plumbing supplies (including giant tubs) at his 2006 store in Portland, Maine.