This week, the BMRA (Building Materials Reuse Association) is hosting their Market Development Summit in Detroit, Michigan, called Re-Nailed for thought leaders and industry participants.
BMRA is a 501 c3 non-profit educational and research organization whose mission is to facilitate building deconstruction and the reuse / recycling of recovered building materials. Their focus is to increase the opportunities for the recovery and reuse of building materials in an environmentally sound and financially sustainable way with the intent on achieving the following goals:
Reduce the consumption of new resource,
Avoid landfill waste and pollution,
Create value-added markets and increase cost-effectiveness, and
Expand job opportunities and workforce development skills.
Why does this matter? Simply put, if you can avoid the consumption of something new by reusing something existing AND avoiding creating waste or filling a landfill, then there is a triple ripple benefit. The reuse of an existing building material comes from the process of deconstruction, literally, de-constructing a home or a building and reusing or possibly recycling materials from the property.
In Chicago, one of the obvious places where individuals can see a form of deconstruction is when a company comes takes all of the bricks from turn-of-the-century buildings, stacks them on pallets, then hauls them away for use on a new existing project.
In Cleveland, APOC (A Piece Of Cleveland) is actively deconstructing vacant houses before they are demolished by the city to reclaim a multitude of building products and reuse them as well as repurpose them into impressive furniture and fixtures.
So if you are in Detroit, stop on by Detroit Re-Nailed. There summit is filled with 2 days of seminars and panel discussions as well as on-site demonstrations in the community over the weekend. Topics include: How the Recovery Market is Evolving, Supply Chain and Logistics, National ReUse Markets, Best Business Practices, and Non-Profit vs. For-Profit Model to name a few. Of particular note, the seminar on Transparency Around Deconstruction Appraisals is a topic involving the IRS form 8283 and how to value the materials being donated to Non-Profit entities in the recovery industry.
Michael Hobbs, SRA, LEED GA, PahRoo Appraisal & Consultancy
Twitter @Pahroo
Job Opening We're Hiring: 2 residential real estate appraisers (Chicago or suburbs)
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