REUSE CENTERS Bargains galore, from roof to floor

The centers offer a wide range of building materials at thrift-store prices.
By DAN NEPHIN
ASSOCIATED PRESS
PITTSBURGH -- In an old manufacturing plant on the east end of the city, savvy renovators can find bargains on building materials ranging from floor tile to roof shingles and just about everything in between.
For example, kitchen sinks ranging from about $10 to $20. And used doors, priced anywhere from $5 to about $35.
The store, Construction Junction, is part of a growing trend called building materials reuse centers. In a way, they're like thrift stores, but instead of slightly worn fashions from past seasons, they stock cabinetry, bathroom fixtures, hardware and various contractor overrun. The items are donated mostly by homeowners or contractors from renovations and can range from older items to surplus materials from new projects.
The centers keep useable materials out of landfills, provide jobs and donors may be able to claim the donations as tax deductions. Often, part of the centers' mission is to serve low-income communities or provide job training for the disabled.
Gary Burdick lives near Construction Junction and finds himself stopping in a couple of times a week to browse.
"They get new stuff in and it goes quick," Burdick said. He found an old oak screen door that matched the style of the old house he recently purchased.
One reason why Burdick shops at Construction Junction is his belief that building materials were manufactured better in the past. He also likes the idea of using something that might otherwise have been tossed out.
"It helps people do the right thing," said Michael Gable, Construction Junction's executive director. "People don't want to throw away useable materials."
How it came about
The inspiration for Construction Junction, which opened in 1999, came after Lou Tamler, then with the environmental group Pennsylvania Resources Council, was approached by a contractor looking for a place to donate useable siding from a renovation. The council wasn't set up to handle such donations, but Construction Junction grew out of Tamler's research.
Similar centers are opening around the country.
"It's definitely a growing trend," said Lauren Maddox, the donations program coordinator for the Reuse Development Organization, or ReDO. The Indianapolis-based organization promotes reuse and offers technical and educational assistance to help reuse centers get started.
While Maddox said she had no figure on the number of such centers, "our goal is to have a building materials reuse center, a furniture center and some kind of electronics center in every major city."
Baltimore and Minneapolis have long had centers and both are considered reuse pioneers.
Leslie Kirkland, executive director at The Loading Dock in Baltimore and ReDO's board vice president, said that over the years, the mission of reuse centers has evolved. When the Loading Dock opened in 1984, its mission was that of social benefit by serving low- and moderate-income families.
Benefits of centers
Now, she said, reuse centers are environmentally conscious.
A great benefit of reuse centers, Kirkland said, is seeing people who otherwise might not be able to afford to undertake a renovation project do so because they can get the needed materials affordably.
New items sell at Construction Junction for at least half-off retail, Gable said, and older items are much cheaper.
Customers often tell Gable that they searched for a such-and-such an item -- perhaps a pink toilet or vanity -- for years and found it at his store.
"You can get some really interesting materials," Kirkland said.
Sarah Cederstrom, direct sales coordinator at the ReUse Center in Minneapolis, said construction waste is among the fastest growing sources of landfill waste in the country.
The ReUse Center's customers include low-income do-it-yourselfers, renovators who are creative or don't mind refinishing older items, landlords looking for bargains and art students who create sculptures, Cederstrom said.
The store does about $750,000 in sales a year and has grown from four to 22 employees in about seven years, she said.
Construction Junction started with two staffers and has grown into a $500,000 operation with eight full-time and four part-time employees, Gable said.
Along with Construction Junction, there are similar stores in Lancaster and Allentown.
Helping Habitat for Humanity has operated the Re-Store in Lancaster since 1997. George Harris, manager of the Re-Store, said money raised from its sales has helped Habitat for Humanity build more than five homes.
David Kormanik, director of specials projects at Good Shepherd Work Services in Allentown said its store, RePlace, has trained or employed 65 people with disabilities since it opened in June 2001.
He describes the RePlace as "a gently used Home Depot" that also sells furniture. In its first year, 20,000 people visited and a third of them bought something.
Along the way, it's helped keep more than one million pounds of useable materials out of landfills, Kormanik said.
XFor more information, visit Construction Junction at www.constructionjunction.org; Reuse Development Organization at www.redo.org; Re-Store at www.lancasterhabitat.org/restore.html; ReUse Center at www.greeninstitute.org/reusecenter.htm; and Pennsylvania Resources Council at www.prc.org on the Web.