By Paul Tuthill
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wamc/local-wamc-994319.mp3
Springfield, MA – The largest store of its kind in New England featuring used and surplus building materials has opened in Springfield Massachusetts.. The non-profit business caters to bargain seeking do-it-yourselfers, and the socially conscience. WAMC's Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief Paul Tuthill reports..
A decade ago, the Center for Ecotechnology started recycling building materials through a small store front in a not-so environmentally friendly part of Springfield known as " Gasoline Alley" . This week, in the same neighborhood, the Pittsfield based non-profit opened to the public a 20 thousand square foot store in a former furniture factory.
John Majercak, the executive director of the Center for Ecotechnology opened the Restore Home Improvement Center as a way to stop building materials from ending up in landfills. He found people eager to donate perfectly good cabinets, doors , windows, lighting fixtures and plumbing that they no longer wanted, or had a use for. And they found a market for the used building supplies in do-it-yourselfers on a tight budget..
Because the business is a registered charity, people who donate the kitchen cabinets,sinks, and toilets from their home improvement projects get a tax deduction. The store sells its used and surplus items at between 50 percent and 75 percent of the retail price at a typical big box store, according to sales manager John Grossman.
The new location has a new name, EcoBuilding Bargains, which reflects an expanded line of products, which includes new green building materials like bamboo flooring , high efficieny lighting, weatherization products, rain barrels and recycled paint..
The store works with specially trained contractors, like Tom Silva of Springfield to get donations through a remodeling process called deconstruction..the careful dismantling of a room..or an entire house to maximize the recovery of building materials for re-use.
John Thompson, a contractor who builds custom homes, says the used materials can be just as good as new sometimes better.
The new store is housed in a 100 year old building that was the first home to the National Biscuit Company, and had most recently been a furniture warehouse. The old building was renovated at cost of 3 point three million dollars, incorporating, of course, a host of green improvements that will cut energy use by a third.