Live Greensburg Video Cam Feed!

Check out the Live video from the Greensburg School project here !

What a great resource and thanks to Catherine from BNIM's offices for forwarding this on to us! We can't wait to see the school's progress!

PlanetReuse at Gulf Coast Green - 2009 - Houston

Another great year of speakers and outstanding exhibitors has been set up! It all gets kicked-off today.

Gulf Coast Green 2009 SYMPOSIUM is the leading green building conference targeted to design and construction professionals within the Gulf Coast region, organized by the AIA Houston Committee on the Environment. This year’s symposium explores sustainable principles and practices at a community scale, including Keynote Speakers Alex Steffen, Steve Mouzon, and Doug Farr.

Stop by and visit PlanetReuse at the symposium (look for the PlanetReuse computer kiosk) and at the USGBC Gulf Coast Green Mixer on April 16th.

For more info: http://www.gulfcoastgreen.org/default.asp

PlanetReuse - Gone Global

I don't know how many of you have brushed up on your German lately, but we were recently featured in the Financial Times Deutschland! Feel free to check it out.

Also our thanks to Hanna Klimpe for writing about us as, "The sexy alternative for material reuse." Nice.

PlanetReuse in NY Times...AGAIN!

A big thanks to Allison Arieff for her coverage of "Designing through a Depression! We are really excited to hear what Allison had to say about us as well as spreading the word about material reuse, availability, quality and cost savings!

Read the article here

Great Resource and Article

We just became aware of Paula and her group the Reuse Network. What a cool group, doing great things to champion the cause for sustainability and deconstruction! Feel free to check them out here.

Also I found their write up about building and deconstruction practices particularly important and well written and I have attached it below.

Feel free to visit the PlanetReuse guys and the ReUse Network folks at BMRA's upcoming conference in Chicago!

Copied from www.reusenetwork.org

10 Tips to Better Your Recycling & ReUse Efforts:

1. Become a ReUse Network Member Architect or Member Builder and we’ll keep you current on user-friendly solutions and frequent updates about industry practices, resources and legislation.
2. Question your current business habits and prejudices about what can and cannot be reused and what you can influence.
3. As a professional architect, builder, project manager, estimator, etc; ask yourself, whether you’re really taking the lead and going the extra mile in influencing diversion and environmental practices.
4. Design a permanent diversion management strategy (architects not excluded) for your operation. Employ it even if you’re not working in a jurisdiction that requires an official Waste Management Plan, like the City of Santa Monica does.
5. As an architect, know that you’re in a leading position to influence clients and job site practices. Refer clients to general contractors you know always employ solid waste diversion practices on their job sites and remind clients to interview builders about this aspect of their operation.
6. As a builder, add signage to your job site as your permanent recycling strategy: What does and doesn’t go in the roll-off; cans go here, bottles here, scrap metal here, food waste here, etc.
7. As a general contractor, try integrating your waste management practices into selling your services. This shows attention to detail and will win you projects as you set yourself apart from other builders.
8. Assign one individual in the company and one individual on every job site that is responsible for implementing your waste management plan.
9. Offer a Deconstruction Solution whenever remotely possible. Forego traditional demolition at every opportunity. NOTE: Just because the first client passes on deconstruction, don’t stop offering. Currently, one in three people who are given the lead time to consider a Deconstruction Solution, choose it.
10. Think Outside the Roll-Off! Remember the savings and good things that can be achieved by donating to organization such as Deconstruction/ReUse Network, Habitat for Humanity, and Corazon.

DECON 09 and BMRA Update

The BMRA wishes to remind you that DECON ’09, held at the University of Illinois-Chicago, is rapidly approaching. This is the premier national event for the deconstruction and building materials reuse industry, and promises to be the best DECON yet! Visit www.bmra.org to view the program and register for the conference. Here are some updates:

Abstracts have been evaluated and selected, and the program agenda is complete. We have forty-eight outstanding presentation and panel sessions.

Keynote Speakers have been selected, and will feature Mr. Michael Jackson, Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, Mr. William Abolt, Shaw Sustainable Design Solutions of Illinois, Ms. Suzanne Malec-McKenna, Commissioner, Chicago Department of Environment.

A Policy Summit on Deconstruction and Building Materials Reuse Best Practices, and Green Collar Jobs in urban environments will be an important feature of the Conference.

The post-conference tour will feature options; two “Green Loop” walking tours, and a bus tour of the Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation Synagogue, (a LEED platinum building featuring extensive use of salvaged building materials), the Chicago Center for Green Technology, and the new ReBuilding Exchange, Chicago’s first non-profit used building materials store.

Post-conference workshops for deconstruction and C&D materials recycling are ready to go.

Lodging accommodations are available at the Crowne Plaza Chicago Metro at a special DECON ’09 rate.

PlanetReuse will also be participating in the sessions. Nathan Benjamin will be moderating Session 9 -  "Panel Discussion on Green Building" and also serving as a panelist in Session 14 - "The Material Exchange Websites /Virtual Marketplaces I." The audience for this three-day international conference includes demolition contractors, deconstruction and architectural salvage businesses; construction and demolition materials recyclers; used building materials retailers;
architects; engineers; green builders; governmental agencies; LEED professionals; students in the architectural, engineering, planning, and environmental fields; and anyone else interested in responsible resource use. The BMRA is dedicated to transforming the way we build, renovate, and demolish structures for a resource-conserving future.