From David Bennink
From David Bennink, our teacher, mentor and biggest supporter:
To Buffalo Reuse -
This is a note to let you know how thankful we are for what you accomplished on the Extreme Home Makeover television show. When I say ‘we’, I mean all of us in the reusable building materials industry who can recognize the benefits to our industry of high-profile success stories such as your Powell project.
I was amazed to see how much time was dedicated to the subjects of building deconstruction, construction waste management, and building material reuse. Watching intently, I noted at least 6-10 instances where our industry had a role in the show. My trip to Buffalo to help take the house down had two purposes, to make Buffalo Reuse look good and the industry as a whole look like a viable option and we accomplished both on this show.
Finally, I am reflecting on the various communities that I visit around the Country, and it makes me want to thank the great people of Buffalo. Yes, the ‘great’ people. I was amazed at the sea of blue shirts I saw at this site and how they out-numbered previous sites.
Today, people across the Buffalo area have a reason to feel sorry for those in ‘better’ areas of the Country as I believe that strife builds character and you folks have plenty of both. It could be said that those who live with an abundance are not given the chance to overcome challenges and to grow from that.
So thanks again to Buffalo Reuse for setting the standard for Extreme Home Makeover on responsible building removal and to the great people of Buffalo for setting the standard on giving of themselves and overcoming adversity.
Dave Bennink
RE-USE Consulting
360-201-6977
www.reuseconsulting.com
www.bmra.org
National Building Deconstructor of the Year – 2009
Jenna Kunde Said,
January 27, 2010 @ 4:32 pm
Congratulations to all for so many amazing accomplishments. Thank you, Michael, for your mention of WasteCap and our construction and demolition waste management work on the project. Ours was just one of so many groups who helped with this project. Buffalo is an amazing community.
One thing I wanted to clear up in case any readers were confused is that we followed the NAHB guidelines for documentation. All rating systems, including the NAHB rating system that was used for this project, ask that all materials that leave the site (except hazardous waste) are documented. You say that the numbers are “skewed toward recycling.” We documented everything that came off the site – it just happens that a lot of material was recycled. If a lot of the material that left the site was landfilled, I guess the numbers would have been skewed toward landfilling.
David Homes, Waste Management, you guys, the City of Buffalo and others all helped find not only reuse, but for those materials that couldn’t be reused, recycling markets for much of the material that left the site. Olmstead Gardens even provided a market for the drywall scrap from new construction. So many hands – all working for good – that accomplishment that really shines through.
Congratulations again!
Jenna