Construction waste clogs landfills and worsens climate change. These women salvage it
In a humble garage on Cape Cod, Ann Jarosiewicz squeezed behind a refrigerator and bathroom vanity to thumb through a stack of doors.
“I mean, that's a beautiful antique door, right?”
She and Liz Prete are founders of a building materials recycling company called “WasteNot.” And on a sunny April morning, they found themselves surrounded by all the stuff they’ve pulled out of homes slated for gutting, demolition, or major renovation.
It’s not just doors, but also “heat systems, hot water heaters,” Jarosiewicz said, pointing to each around the garage. “Kitchen cabinets – we’ve placed a lot of kitchen cabinets – a lot of dishwashers.”
“Dishwashers – that’s why we don’t have any here,” Prete agreed.
Since leaving their jobs as developers and starting WasteNot in 2017, Prete and Jarosiewicz said they’ve diverted from landfills over an acre of hardwood flooring, roughly 570 kitchen cabinets, and 500 windows.
Homeowners pay them for deconstruction and get a tax-write off for whatever the WasteNot team donates – which is nearly everything.
https://www.capeandislands.org/new-england-news-collaborative/2023-04-17/construction-waste-clogs-landfills-worsens-climate-change-two-womens-solution-salvage-it-instead
In Staunton, VA, and other places, a lot of this stuff goes to REStore, where it's sold to benefit Habitat for Humanity.
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