Editorial: Cutting waste, making money

Tuesday, Dec. 26, 2006 | 7:09 a.m.

When a house has to be demolished, it is common for operators of heavy equipment to level the place. For a typical home, this creates up to 50 tons of debris that must be hauled to a landfill.

A Habitat for Humanity chapter in North Carolina, however, has found a better way. A recent story in the Raleigh News & Observer described how the chapter's members have created a demolition business that costs just half of a traditional demolition, results in far fewer tons of debris, earns a tax credit for the homeowner and raises funds for its real mission of building homes for low-income workers.

Habitat volunteers go into the doomed houses and remove everything of value, including countertops, light fixtures, cabinets and sinks. They sell everything they salvage to a local business that deals in used household goods. After the home has been knocked down, they sell the lumber and shingles to a recycler, who converts the material to chips for steam boilers. The homeowner gets to claim the worth of the salvaged property on his income taxes as a charitable donation.

In the end, only about five tons of debris get taken to a landfill. The only trade-off is that the demolition takes a few weeks rather than a few hours.

We hope this kind of thinking catches on. There must be many other ways of cutting waste and making money at the same time. Let's get thinking.