ReUse and ReCreate

There is a lot of concern about the daily waste we generate in this one use society we find ourselves in. Even in one weekly trip to a grocery store, you will likely be making choices that see packaging and waste sent to the landfill. We need to recognize this impact and take alternate options seriously where possible.

Construction sites use a host of materials to complete any structure build. In my decades on job sites, I have seen so many examples of useful materials being thrown out. It could be a complete bundle of custom prefinished metal flashing for a new build, or really nice solid core interior doors from an office renovation. It is a complex issue. Trying to reuse doors that might not be the correct size or adaptable to modern door hardware puts any ReUSE plan in jeopardy immediately.

A few years ago, I was on Vancouver Island and I stopped in at an architectural reclamation place that I love to visit. They had a huge number of things that caught me off guard and I was surprised to find out that many other places on the island had similar things on offer. The numerous solid mahogany doors with solid brass hardware all came from the historic Empress Hotel in Victoria. During an extensive renovation, these doors had to be permanently removed since they failed to meet the new code requirements for access width or fire protection. Luckily these were of such high quality that a number of reclamation and antique outlets snapped them up right away. But doors from old schools or hospitals for example are not usually that sought after. That means that endless handling and storage of these items waiting for that perfect future owner is a financial burden that most cannot bear.

Recently, a very large corporation was moving into a new office space in Saskatoon . Even though they had about 80+ offices and cubicle spaces of very well made office furniture, this original furniture no longer met the standard for ergonomics for standing/sitting office environments. This posed a real issue for the corporation as well as to the contractor/owner that purchased their old office building they were vacating. Normally, contractors will do what they can for a few things here or there, but they can’t afford to disassemble, move, and store such furniture in hopes that a future home can be found. As such, anything beyond the first pass attempt to redistribute to a new home gets broken down and fired into a dumpster. There is little else companies can do to afford actions beyond this.

But in this recent situation, I volunteered to work with both the departing corporation and the new building owner to make a serious plan . An effort was put in for months to offer this to the general public for free on the condition that any entity wanting the furniture had to come and remove it condition that any entity wanting the furniture had to come and remove it from the building themselves, floor by floor.

In the end, more than 99% of the furniture found a new forever home where it will be well appreciated for decades to come. Originally it was extremely ‘hopeful’ if even 50% could find a new home in the timeframe open for this activity to take place. But answer the call people did, and in the end a church group, a barbershop, a physiotherapist, a construction supply company, a foundation supply company, a drywall company, a group of university students, a massage therapist, an aircraft rebuilder, a veterinarian, and a great many private citizens answered the call. In the end, only a few previously damaged small furniture pieces that were not repairable were all that remained.

A few desk upper hutch units that were not taken with the support desks by the new owners would have been a problem to repurpose. I realized that these few units could be cut down and stacked for a garage storage unit. ReUSE quickly pivoted and became ReCREATE. A different process but the end goal was still achieved.

It shows what can be accomplished with a good plan and a lot of very helpful people on the ground who coordinate and facilitate the effort. But nothing would have taken place without the consent of the departing corporation and the incoming building owner at some cost.

In some jurisdictions, there are programs to pick up clean construction waste and unused construction materials. I have even heard of a program where clean wood stud cut offs are gathered and run through a finger joint mill to create a sought after construction product.

It has to be realized that not all programs are viable in every location, but less debate and more effort to get out working to see what works for your own area is a better solution.

In this recent ReUSE case, too much discussion and endless planning meetings would have caused this to become unworkable and undesirable fast. Instead, a reasonable proposal was discussed and agreed to. Then others outside of the management level made the program work on the ground.

Consider that we may have our own alternate ways to solve local issues than what City Administration may find in other Canadian cities that they use as an example. We should always try to find our own home grown solutions before paying large sums to outside consultants for their views on what works in a large city like Toronto or Calgary, for example.