Remodeling lessons: realities of reuse and recycling

I spent most of the last year working on two residential remodeling projects. The first was a 4600 square foot home, relatively new but in need of updating throughout. As we filled an over-sized dumpster with demolition debris, for the second time, the impact was profound. This process is repeated hundreds of times each week just in my county, resulting in demand for more land for dump sites and other environmental consequences that are not sustainable. (In Dane County, Wisconsin, 46% of what goes into landfill is construction and demolition debris. If you request a demolition permit, you have to provide a reuse and recyling plan.) Only minor victories were achieved on this project as a result of recycling packaging materials and donating fixtures to the Community Development Corporation for reuse in low-income housing in the area.

At the end of this project, I decided that I would tackle another remodel, but only if it were my home. Eight weeks later I closed on a 9 year old home in Midvale, Utah – one of 19 in a park-like gated community. The home had nearly 2700 square feet of great potential. It begged for a complete update on the main level, including a new kitchen and was a perfect candidate for a basement build out.

During demolition I was able to reuse some of the old kitchen cabinets as garage storage and donate light fixtures and other items to the Community Development Corporation. (I was happy to find that the local chapter of Habitat for Humanity was overstocked with donations of this kind.)

I was also able to recycle the carpet pad that I removed from the main level. However, I was disappointed to discover that, in Utah, it is not possible to recycle the carpet itself. If I had been in Denver or countless other metropolitan areas, carpet recycling would have been an option. The coordinator of the County’s recycling program practically begged me to start a carpet recycling facility so that she could refer others with the same interest. Subsequent to completing the project, I learned a great deal more about carpet recycling and the broader context of cradle-to-cradle design as it applies to carpeting. Look for more on these topics in upcoming posts.