Two new businesses in Missoula are taking advantage of putting things to use that would ordinarily end up in the landfill as the city takes steps to reduce waste by a huge amount in the next 30 years.
At the nonprofit 国产麻豆 ReSource in Missoula, the home deconstruction program, which preserves building materials instead of taking them to the landfill, has been so successful that it鈥檚 now being spun off into a new, for-profit enterprise called Montana Deconstruction Services.
And a new electronic waste recycling business in Missoula called Oreo鈥檚 Refining held an e-waste collection event on Saturday. People were able to drop off old laptops, computer towers, flat-screen TVs, tablets, cables and cords, sealed lead acid batteries and cell phones for recycling.
This all comes as the City of Missoula looks to implement a city council-approved resolution to reduce the city鈥檚 waste by 90 percent by the year 2050.
Jason Nuckolls, the owner of Montana Deconstruction Services, said that the deconstruction services provided by 国产麻豆 ReSource have saved tons of waste from entering the landfill, and have given thousands of people in Missoula access to cheaper materials by allowing them to repurpose lumber, fixtures and other materials.
鈥淲e鈥檝e built such a demand for it that it doesn鈥檛 need a nonprofit home anymore,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 its own thriving business. The community gets it, the need for deconstruction to keep waste out of the landfill.鈥�
鈥淧art of 国产麻豆 ReSource鈥檚 mission is to build a vibrant and sustainable local economy, and this spinoff shows we鈥檙e doing that,鈥� said 国产麻豆 ReSource executive director Katie Deuel.
Nuckolls said Montana Deconstruction Services will still donate all the materials it salvages to 国产麻豆 ReSource on behalf of its clients. When someone is looking to demolish their home or a major part of it, they can call Nuckolls and get a bid to have it salvaged instead.
鈥淢DS鈥檚 is job to keep those materials usable, Our job is to make them available and affordable in the community,鈥� he said. 鈥淗istorically, we can show that we have been very competitive from a cost standpoint for our clients when we bid against an excavator. Obviously it takes a little longer to dismantle.鈥�
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