Recycling | Swamplot

10/10/12 1:26pm

Mining Houston Garbage for Recycling and Compost Gold

The city of Houston has applied for a grant to help it develop a “dirty MRF” (rhymes with “smurf”) — a recycling center that would sort and mine garbage, using an assortment of machines, scanners, and density separators to separate recyclables, electrical items, compost, and dry materials that could be resold. A materials recovery facility envisioned by sustainability director Laura Spanjian and chief development officer Andy Icken would be similar to one in Roseville, California, that opened in 2007 and “harvests” almost half the waste sent to it. You can follow along a kiddie-led tour of that MRF in this video:

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Landfills, Proposed Developments, Recycling

Comments

09/12/12 5:41pm

Comment of the Day: You Pay, We Salvage

by Swamplot

Construction Materials, Quicklink, Recycling

5 Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: YOU PAY, WE SALVAGE “. . . Under the new business model, which is consistent with national models used by various non-profits involved in deconstruction and restores involved in reselling reclaimed materials, the donor of the house will now pay to have the materials reclaimed because they are the ones benefitting from the charitable contribution for the gift of the materials. As an example . . . a property owner could simply demolish a house . . . send everything to the landfill and they will have a cost associated with that for about $8,000.00 with no tax benefit. OR . . . the donor can donate the house to Historic Houston, pay for us to deconstruct/salvage the house, which may cost an additional 3,500-5,000.00, so a total cost of letâ€™s say 13,000.00 to demolish the house. In every instance I have ever dealt with, the charitable contribution for the gift of the materials FAR EXCEEDS the total cost of the demolition and salvage sometimes multiple times over. . . . If doing deconstruction and reclaiming building materials was such a HUGE profit center and money making proposition . . . there would be all kinds of competition out there in this growing market . . . but in fact thereâ€™s not . . . because itâ€™s really hard work getting the material out, and storing the material until someone (hopefully) buys it is really expensive and the profit margin is incredibly low . . . thrift store value. . . .” [Lynn Edmundson, commenting on Fundraising To Reopen Historic Houstonâ€™s Salvage Warehouse]

Comments, Construction Materials, Recycling

Comments

09/06/12 12:51pm

Comment of the Day: Demolition Is in the Eye of the Beholder

by Swamplot

Construction Materials, Quicklink, Recycling

3 Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: DEMOLITION IS IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER “. . . I see lots to be salvaged and given to Habitat for Humanity. All that wood flooring, everything in the kitchen, especially the stainless countertop and appliances, french doors, louvered closet doors, balcony railings inside and out, granite bar top and light fixture, bathroom cabinets and granite countertop, tub. Not sure if the tile flooring can be taken up, and the plate glass windows would be tough to pull without breaking. I would love to plan and build a house around items from Habitat. I have seen some very unique things there. For now, I just have a greenhouse with a door, leaded glass sidelight, and jalousie windows from Habitat. And some really neat ceramic tiles that I plan on putting on the potting bench. Iâ€™m going to go back and get reclaimed brick for the patio.” [Lynn, commenting on Daily Demolition Report: Passing the Red Baton]

Comments, Construction Materials, Demolitions, Recycling

Comments

09/08/11 6:02pm

Comment of the Day: There Goes the Church, There Goes the Steeple

by Swamplot

Demolitions, Greenway Plaza, Quicklink, Recycling

No Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: THERE GOES THE CHURCH, THERE GOES THE STEEPLE “Yes, the stained glass is being salvaged. The old pipe organ went to UT and many other art pieces were saved. It is unfortunate to see this go, but it is just a building. The Church is the people. Mark 13: â€˜1 As Jesus was leaving the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher! What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!” 2 “Do you see all these great buildings?” replied Jesus. “Not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”â€™” [Jeromy Murphy, commenting on Mod Richmond Ave. Church Ready To Fall for New Apartments]

77027, Churches, Comments, Demolitions, Greenway Plaza, Recycling

Buying and Selling

07/29/11 11:46pm

Comment of the Day: Salvage Value

by Swamplot

Comments, Construction Materials, Modern Design, Quicklink, Recycling

No Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: SALVAGE VALUE “I am not attached to the nice appliances, wood floors, etc. . . . but they have a very large and easily accessible resale market . . . its not being sentimental it is just not wasting money on something that can easily be resold. A mod house like this has a very small market. Only a select few like this style of house, and even fewer are willing to pay for them.” [Marksmu, commenting on Battle Over Swank Sugar Land Supermod Won By Komatsu Excavator]

Buying and Selling, Comments, Construction Materials, Demolitions, Modern Design, Recycling

Buying and Selling

06/01/11 9:11am

Heights-Area Recycling Center Going to the Cleaners

by Swamplot

First Ward, Quicklink, Recycling

28 Comments

HEIGHTS-AREA RECYCLING CENTER GOING TO THE CLEANERS Up for a vote in this morning’s city council meeting: The sale of the First Ward recycling center at 3602 Center St. to the owners of a neighboring property for $2.01 million. Under the agreement, the city would lease back the 1-acre lot near the corner of Washington Ave. and Heights Blvd. for 18 months from Admiral Linen Service — for free. A plan to set up a new area recycling facility on Spring St. was halted 2 years ago. Update, 1:20 pm: Voting on the issue has been postponed until next week. [Houston Politics; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Alexander W.

77007, Buying and Selling, First Ward, Recycling

Construction Materials

04/15/11 1:34pm

Pulling Out All the Stops at the Historic Houston Salvage Warehouse Extended Goodbye Sale

by Swamplot

North Montrose, Openings and Closings, Recycling

7 Comments

As of this morning, Historic Houston has been able to raise only $13,000 of the $50,000 executive director Lynn Edmundson had figured the organization would need to keep its North Montrose building-parts salvage warehouse in operation for just 3 more months. After this weekend, she tells Swamplot, she will have lost all employees other than her crew. That means the warehouse at 1307 West Clay St. will only be able to be opened by appointment. This Saturday from 10 to 4, though, she’ll be holding a last-ditch 50-percent-off sale with a bonus: All purchases will be tax-free.

As a nonprofit, Historic Houston is allowed to hold 2 sales-tax-free sales a year. Similar events put on by the organization in past years have been “pretty big successes,” according to Edmundson. “There seems to be something about not paying taxes” that really encourages people to buy, she says.

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77019, Construction Materials, North Montrose, Openings and Closings, Recycled Materials

Comments

05/26/09 4:59pm

Comment of the Day: House Parts

by Swamplot

Construction Materials, Demolitions, Quicklink, Recycling

No Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: HOUSE PARTS “I drove by the house at 701 Olive during the demolition. I was curious to see if any efforts were made to keep any of the items out of a landfill. What I saw was a house, complete with furniture, cabinets, ceiling fans, windows, clothing, etc. getting crushed by a bulldozer and scooped into a roll off. I saw 3 french doors that would have looked great in my house getting smashed to bits. Such a shame :(” [mstark, commenting on Daily Demolition Report: Bacher House Down]

Comments, Construction Materials, Demolitions, Furniture, Recycling

Construction Materials

05/13/09 11:18am

Recycling Houston Building Parts

by Swamplot

Green Design and Development, Independence Heights, Quicklink, Recycling

2 Comments

RECYCLING HOUSTON BUILDING PARTS A new city-run Reuse Warehouse that’s been open for just 2 weeks at 9003 N. Main St. (just north of Crosstimbers) is designed to reduce the amount of excess building materials dumped into landfills. The warehouse accepts donations of extra building materials, and offers them for free to nonprofit organizations. What can you donate? “Cabinets, copper, doors, electrical fixtures and equipment, fans, flooring material, glass, gutters, hardware, lighting, lumber, metal, mirrors, pipe, plumbing, plywood, roofing material, screens, sheetrock, sinks, showers, trim, tubs, wall coverings, or windows” but no paint. “More than one-third of the waste stream in the Houston area is made up of construction and demolition material.” [Green Houston, via Hair Balls]

77022, Construction Materials, Independence Heights, Recycled Materials, Recycling, Sustainable Development & Green Design

Bankruptcy

04/30/09 8:03am

Bankrupt Houston Recycler

by Swamplot

Quicklink, Recycling

5 Comments

BANKRUPT HOUSTON RECYCLER AbitibiBowater, the Canadian paper company that runs Houston’s residential recycling operation — and which recently began a pilot single-stream program in a few Houston neighborhoods — declared bankruptcy earlier this month. “The central question is how this bankruptcy could impact the city’s already abysmal recycling rates, which city officials hoped would go up considerably after the implementation of single stream, a wood-waste program and an upcoming contract for recycling in city buildings. Gary Readore, the chief of staff for the Solid Waste Management Department, said he has spoken with Abitibi officials in Houston who said the bankruptcy would not impact their operations.” [Houston Politics]