A new way to haul in more materials

– April 30, 2021

Lumber and trim racks in the store here at Construction Junciton.

Greetings reuse fans,

Readers and followers of CJ know that building construction and manufacturing of materials used in building, renovating and remodeling consumes a high percentage of the planet’s resources and generates over 30% of the world’s waste. Keeping materials in use through reuse is the most environmentally responsible way to participate in consumption other than to decide to not purchase a new-to-you product in the first place.

A donor unloads items from his car at our jetty COVID social distancing donation area.

Mannequins standing at the rear of a box truck-load of material from a donation pickup.

The CJ Decon Crew at work salvaging lumber and trim.

The challenge with reuse is capturing material before it goes into the waste stream. That is why CJ offers drop off, free pick up and deconstruction of your construction and renovation materials. However, there is one area where CJ feels that we are missing an opportunity to intervene in the waste stream and that is at the transfer station. Transfer Stations are facilities that collect waste directly from self-haulers and demolition contractors before sending it to the landfill. These facilities offer an opportunity, when set up to do so, to sort reusable and recyclable material from the items in the waste stream that cannot be reused or recycled.

CJ is pleased to announce that we will be piloting a project with Michael Brothers Hauling and Recycling to set up a collection for usable building materials at its transfer station located in the North Hills at 408 Hoffman Road.

For the first collection drop off on Saturday, May 22, our truck will be at the facility from 9:00a to 1:00p to take your reusable building materials. What we hope makes this arrangement useful for those who are doing renovation or rehab projects is the ability to bring all of your material to one place and dispose of the items that aren’t acceptable for donation – something we are unable to offer at our own donation drop off location. Standard fees will apply for waste, so check our acceptance guidelines to get an idea of what is able to be donated. For example, scrap lumber and trim is accepted, but pieces shorter than 4 feet or under a 1/2 sheet of plywood would be waste.

We appreciate Michael Brothers openness to working with CJ to divert usable building materials from the waste stream. The success of this effort will determine if we can make this type of collection a regular feature of CJ’s programing to capture reusable materials.

The most successful program to collect reusable materials at a transfer station is located at the first reuse retail facility in the country, Urban Ore, in Berkeley California. They offer an inspiring model for us to reuse. As we are exploring this concept with Michael Brothers, we are appreciative of and feedback and comments on how this kind of program would be useful to the public.