We often see examples of salvage materials being lovingly recovered but getting the right destination for them can be equally hard work.
Drawing: Bradley Guy
As well as having the right destination in the right place for reclaimed items, the key to dealing with recovered items is to do everything to retain their value, and that means having the right facilities to process and store them.
There are plenty of community based organisations doing utterly amazing work to salvage construction and demolition materials, fixtures and fittings, but they are often hampered by not having enough of the right spaces, buildings and facilities to receive and store those materials.
A common feature of organisations successfully working in salvaged and reclaimed construction and demolition materials is that they have a large, covered space, often over 3,000 square metres of with a warehouse stud size. This allows all items to have the best chance of reuse because the weather isn’t an issue in determining the ongoing condition of the items.
Covered space buys the items or materials time to do whatever the organisation chooses to do with them, further process or clean them, upcycle or repurpose. It also makes it viable to engage people to do this work because the weather does not dictate when they can and cannot work.
But the key benefit is that it makes for a way more attractive shopping experience for customers, making for greater merchandising opportunities. A warehouse space makes sure shoppers aren’t deterred by the weather.
It can be a really difficult task to find enclosed warehouse space but putting a roof over and walls around reclaimed materials is the key to making the most of reclaimed and salvaged materials.
Comments
Post a Comment