Recycle Everyday - Part 2

At least 40 five-gallon buckets containing either joint compound or paint were consumed on the job. Meg Hebert of the Greater New Bedford Regional Refuse Management District  directed me to A.W. Martin, Inc. to get these buckets recycled. I was told to be sure the buckets were relatively clean, and that took an hour of effort. When dropping off the buckets, I got an enthusiastic response from all of the staff and the comment that more builders should think about recycling. 

Sorting the trash always rewards me with less trash to pay to dispose of, and it is meaningful to produce less waste. The amount of cardboard and foam on this job is huge, and it would be pointless to cart any of it to the disposal site. Here's a link to my approach to reusing polystyrene  http://alternativearchitecture.blogspot.com/2009/12/affordable-energy-retrofits.html . See earlier post Part 1

Building Up is Catching On

It has taken the whole recession to finish these townhouses, and we're almost there. Much of what has kept this project going is the belief that it matters to a wide community of small businesses. Every building project has this capacity. It is great to hear more stories like these being told on CNN's new segment "Building Up America." Take a look click here. 

One of the projects profiled is the adaptive reuse of a 1959 auditorium into a new stuning performance arts center. The techniques used at the Austin Long Center were also being used here in New Bedford in the transformation of a deteriorated commercial building. Recycling and building up this economy have been key to this Smart Growth Mixed-Use Project. Looks like building up is catching on.