Recycling Habitat For Humanity Style

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EcoBox is dedicated to helping you recycle & save money, even after your move. One great, often overlooked resource is the Habitat For Humanity ReStore located at 310 Comal St right here in Austin. When outfitting your new home or apartment, we encourage you to take advantage of their great selection of new & used products, saved from the landfills by environmentally conscious people like yourself. And best of all, this stuff is priced well below the brand named chain stores.

An Austin original conceived by Diane Beaver MacKie in 1992, the Austin Habitat for Humanity ReStore has become a model for new and gently used building material outlet stores across the nation. Today, some 500 Habitat ReStores are raising funds to support their affiliate missions of housing people in need.

For most of their history, the Austin Habitat ReStores sold donated previously used building materials and did not offer much in the way of new product. As word of their efforts spread and business grew, they were able to purchase close-out products, manufacturing overruns, or discontinued merchandise from manufacturers and local retailers. Today, the ReStores offer a wide selection of both new and gently used building materials including ceramic tile, lighting, cabinetry, flooring, plumbing, etc.

One of the things that ReStore shoppers love (besides the low prices) is that you never know what you’ll find at the ReStore. Because they receive donations on a daily basis, their inventory changes rapidly. Today there could be a blue bathtub sitting in the ReStore floor and tomorrow it’s replaced by a stack of marble tile. ReStore shoppers know they’ll find a stock of doors, cabinets and flooring, but when you see these one-of-a-kind prizes… snap them up quickly… or someone else will!

Although many things have changed with the ReStores over the years, one thing that hasn’t changed is their commitment to eliminating poverty housing in our community. From the materials they sell improving existing homes to the funds they raise supporting Austin Habitat for Humanity’s homebuilding mission… your support of the AHFH ReStore helps to make decent affordable housing possible for your friends and neighbors…and keep a lot of useful household items out of our landfills!

DID YOU KNOW?
• The U.S. EPA estimated in 1996 that U.S. companies generate 136 million tons of building-related construction and demolition (C&D) waste per year.
• 92% of building-related C&D waste is from renovation and demolition.
• C&D waste is approximately 30% of all solid waste produced in this country, excluding road and bridge debris.
• U.S. EPA estimates that only 20% to 30% of C&D waste is presently recycled.
• About 245,000 residential structures and 44,000 commercial structures are demolished each year in the U.S.
• Landfills and incinerators are increasingly more expensive and problematic to open, operate, and close. One estimate is that it costs $1 million per acre during the life of a landfill.