Keeping
national assets out of the landfill
by Jim Schulman, Sustainable Community Initiatives (DC)
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The
proposed sign and warehouse location for Community
Forklift, a recovered building matrials store,
near Bladensburg MD.
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Everyday in the U.S., over 500,000
tons of construction waste and debris are generated. Most
of that ends up in landfills as wasted resources. While
raw materials such as concrete, asphalt, metals, and wood
are often recycled, 70-80% of the bulky waste is landfilled.
One organization is taking sustainability a step farther
to reduce such waste by reselling usable fixtures, hardware,
and building materials salvaged from construction sites,
while providing job opportunities for the underemployedand
helping to preserve otherwise-lost artifacts of our American
architectural history.
Sustainable Community Initiatives
(SCI), a Washington, D.C. based non-profit organization,
is opening a recovered building materials store to serve
the National Capital Metro Area. The store is called Community
Forklift, and when it opens early in 2005, it will foster
community revitalization, environmental responsibility,
and job creation by selling surplus, salvaged, and green
construction materials at affordable prices. The basic
premise upon which the Community Forklift business plan
rests is that one person's trash is another person's treasure.
Typical surplus & salvaged products will include doors, windows, lumber, masonry, plumbing & electrical fixtures, finishes, and hardware. Sample green building materials
will include cotton insulation, non-toxic paints, and bamboo
flooring. Community Forklift will occupy a 40,000 square
foot facility just north of Bladensburg, MD, in the vicinity
of the historic "Port Towns" (about a mile from the DC
line).
SCI was inspired to open Community
Forklift, in part, to help strengthen the retail side of
the non-virgin materials market in the Mid-Atlantic. After
SCI conducted several successful deconstruction job training
programs in the area - helping chronically underemployed
inner-city residents gain basic construction skills through
the process of dismantling (as opposed to demolishing)
wood and masonry buildings, it became clear that the D.C.
area is underserved by such retail establishments.
Over 50 North American cities
and towns (including Oakland, Portland, Winnipeg, Austin
and Baltimore) feature used building materials stores.
A significant number of these operations are run by Habitat
for Humanity Chapters under the "ReStore" name. Community
Forklift will differ somewhat from the Habitat model in
that, as opposed to directing profits to the construction
of affordable housing, Community Forklift's profits will
largely be reinvested in the business to generate a high
volume of sales of extremely affordable building materials
for use in the direct revitalization of neighborhoods on
the economically disadvantaged east side of the Washington,
D.C. Metro Area. Eventually Community Forklift will also
pursue the remanufacturing of less marketable scrap materials
into higher-value, job-creating products. In doing so,
Community Forklift intends to divert a significant portion
of the local used (and unused) building materials that
currently constitute approximately 50% (by weight) of the
waste stream.
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Jim
Schulman (Sustainable Communities Initiatives)
receives a Community Legacy Award for the Community
Forklift project, with Rev. Gail Addison (End Time
Harvest Ministries) and Hon. Rosetta Parker (Maryland
State Assembly Delegate, 47th District), at the
Maryland Statehouse. (Dec. 16, 2003)
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For the Community Forklift project,
SCI is the proud recipient of a $190,000, low-interest
and 18-month deferred, “Community Legacy†loan from the
State of Maryland, for the purpose of stimulating Community
Stabilization in the Port Towns area.
Because Community Forklift is
affiliated with a non-profit organization, fair market
value tax deductions can be issued to material donors (from
whom a significant amount of inventory is expected to be
obtained)! Pickups can be arranged for a sliding fee. Please
write to Jim Schulman, AIA/LEED at jschulman@igc.org or
call 202/544-0069 with your contact information to be notified
when Community Forklift will be open for business.
Jim Schulman
Jim Schulman is the Executive Director
of
Sustainable Community Initiatives and
President of Community Forklift, LLC.
Sustainable Community Initiatives
is dedicated to developing collaborative community projects
and public education programs on topics relevant to sustainable
community development.
740 7th St., SE, Suite #2
Washington, DC 20003
202/544-0069
fax 202/544-9460
jschulman@igc.org
www.suscomini.org