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The Weight and Impact of Reuse Building Materials

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What is EcoBuilding Bargains?

CET (Center for EcoTechnology) is proud to say that we have successfully been making green make sense for the past 45 years. One of the many ways in which we make an impact is by operating our EcoBuilding Bargains store.

Since it’s opening in 2001 (then called ReBuild), EcoBuilding Bargains has become the largest used building materials store in New England. It supports CET’s mission by keeping thousands of tons of materials out of landfills. In 2019, we kept 222 tons of perfectly good materials from going to waste by offering them to our customers.

Why Donate Building Materials?

EcoBuilding Bargains accepts donations of high-quality home improvement materials and sells them to the public at low prices in a convenient retail setting.

They make the process incredibly easy for donors by offering a convenient free pick-up service, tax deductions, and savings on disposal costs. Not only do these donations save the environment, but they can also save donors and customers a significant amount of money!

Some of the top donors of materials are contractors and homeowners who have surplus materials from construction or deconstruction of a home. Deconstruction is the careful dismantling of a building to use its materials for re-use, repurposing, recycling, and waste management.

Embodied Carbon Adds Up

The EPA estimates that America produced 600 million tons of construction and demolition waste in 2018, which has grown since the 534 million tons estimated to have been produced in 2014. Building materials have hidden environmental costs, through the total energy emissions produced in creating them, also known as embodied carbon. 

In 2019 alone, our store saved 3,093 tons of embodied carbon emissions from being wasted in landfills! This is why deconstruction is so important. For the past 20 years, EcoBuilding Bargains has been helping to make deconstruction a simple and easy process for homeowners and businesses alike!

Why Deconstruction Matters

This careful deconstruction of homes to allow for the repurposing of building materials has many serious benefits to the environment:

Deconstruction reduces climate-altering greenhouse gas emissions from landfills and incinerators.
It reduces the need for more toxic landfills. More and more landfills are needed as construction and demolition waste is on the rise. This debris counts for over half of all the U.S. solid waste.
It reduces harmful effects of natural resource extraction, transportation, and energy consumption for new building materials.
It recycles useable material for reuse and creative repurposing.
It keeps material local, reducing additional adverse harvesting, mining and transportation effects.

Customer and Community Impacts

In addition to the impact of waste diversion, the store is also making an impact by providing additional environmentally-friendly options for customers. For example, we sell a wide variety of LED light bulbs, home compost bins, and rain barrels.

There are also cost-effective and earth-friendly paint options available that are made from recycled latex paints.

Donations are at an all-time high, as are sales of repurposed material. They continue to make a significant environmental impact by reducing the amount of waste going into landfills and making a difference in Springfield by creating jobs, offering community programming space and activities, and providing quality products for customers at affordable prices.

Stop on by the store to see what we’re all about and how you can be a part of making green make sense!

The store is also making an impact by providing additional environmentally-friendly options for customers. For example, we sell a wide variety of LED light bulbs, home compost bins, and rain barrels. Also, cost-effective and earth-friendly paint options available that are made from recycled latex paints.

How to find EcoBuilding Bargains

EcoBuilding Bargains is open from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Sunday. EcoBuilding Bargains is located at 83 Warwick St., Springfield, MA 01104.

Try a Virtual Shopping Appointment and let us show you around our store LIVE with a Virtual Sales Specialist! Additionally, you can visit their eBay store for items that are available to ship directly to you.

Also, check their online store to see a selection of what we have in stock, or call them at (413)-788-6900 if you have any questions.

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