No, I am not flaming the eco-building community. I am referring literally to GARBAGE! Piles and piles of it. Dumpsters full. Being carted off to our landfills while we do our best to install bamboo floors and paper countertops and energy star appliances.

If we want to renovate responsibly, with an ever-watchful eye on greening our world...we have to figure out a way to reduce it! reuse it! recylce it!

So here's a real life case study on our bozTEAM attempts at refuse reduction at our latest project: 407 Page Road

We actually used 4 dumpsters. Planned on only two. That's what happens when you plan on keeping most of the plaster. But you find out you can't because of the shape it's in.

So how do you be GREEN when there is SO MUCH TRASH? After all, part of our bozTEAM mission is to recycle; to use green materials where possible; and to reduce waste everywhere.

We started by donating. Most of the old cabinets went to Debbie's daughter's new home.

• Most of the cabinets went to Rachael. She has the cutest little new home that now has some spectacular, white cabinets from the Davis kitchen.
• The light fixtures went to Debbie and many of the workers.
• The fridge went to Lance and Robert.
• Stove - Dee. After all, her daddy bought it when he owned this house, she should keep it.

Then we salvaged. Although the exchange rate is definitely in favor of the salvage yard...this is about being green, not making green.

• The doors
• The shutters
  
• The sinks and faucets
• The knobs and hinges
• Vent covers
• Columns

Then we gave away as bonuses. WHAT? BONUSES? I'll explain.

On occasion, we hire day workers. These guys get all the dirty work - cleanup, packing the dumpster (as you can see there is very little waste in how the dumpster is stacked high with refuse), tearing out trim, demolition, yard work... And the charge really low rates - about $10/hour.

They also get to take any scrap metal with them when they go. They strip casings from old wire, take unrecycled electrical boxes, salvage old gutters and old copper pipe that is not being reused. They do a lot of work to prep this metal for recycling and then they turn it in for cash.

This works out well for everyone. Our workers are happy to do the yucky jobs for their $10/hour plus. And the plus usually adds up to about $50 more per person per day. And we get to recycle all that metal. So that's how the gutters and electrical scrap and plumbing, etc are recycled.

In construction materials, we also try to do our part:

• reusing the quality old framing wood that was long enough, with few enough nails to remove that it could be used elsewhere
• buying certified wood when we can
  
• purchasing from Habitat for Humanity store and salvage yards
• using recycled materials (in tile and countertops, these are becoming increasingly available)

But despite all this effort, we still fill the dumpsters. Any ideas? We'd love to cut even more waste.

I think next time I am going to call the city and see if they can put a recycling dumpster onsite throughout the project for boxes, plastic, paper and the stuff that we spent so much time bagging and hauling away ourselves....