By Jackie Kirouac-Fram, Executive Director
What’s one of the most commonly encountered types of reused items in the United States? Cars!
So, why do people reuse cars so frequently and willingly in a country where encouragement to purchase new items is everywhere? Are people buying used cars because they care deeply about avoiding the resource extraction required to make a new car? Is the climate crisis fueling the used car market? Hardly.
People who purchase used cars are participating in the largest reuse economy in the country. And for the vast majority, they’re doing it because cars are expensive, and used cars are less expensive. Used cars provide a transportation option for people living with low incomes or fixed incomes who could not afford to buy new, as well as those of us who want to save a little (or a lot). And yes, the used car market is also providing a modest check on the rate of new car production (and the resource extraction and pollution from production and transportation required to build and sell a new car). But we don’t talk about how the used car market keeps cars out of the landfill, because that would be silly. Of course no one is going to scrap a perfectly useful car.
And yet that’s how we deal with used building materials in this country. Items with lots of life left are tossed in the dump, year over year, to the point that dry waste from demolition accounts for a tremendous share of our country’s solid waste stream.
But not us. We keep this stuff out of the landfill because it’s still so useful!
And just like with used cars, our benefit is so much greater than the potential impact we have on the climate crisis. We are a low-cost option for so many folks who either need to save, or want to save, money. Building materials are expensive! And we helped more than 30,000 people this year to renovate, repair, or improve their homes affordably, with $100 doors ($500 new), $150 appliances ($600 new), free home repair classes, and so much more. That’s HUGE!
And we can only do this because of your support. Our material donors (thank you!!), our financial donors (thank you!!), our volunteers (thank you!!), our customers (big love to you!!) and our students (thank you for learning with us!) – you all help us make the magic that we’re known for. And with our new Home Repair for All program, we are even more magical!
If you agree that our work is important, please consider supporting it by making a gift to the ReBuilding for Justice Campaign today. Whether you can give $5 or $5,000, please join our community of supporters – we need you!