ReIY Centres will reduce waste and landfill costs and create jobs

Story published 10.12.08

A new initiative from sustainability expert BioRegional is set to help the construction industry reduce the cost of dealing with waste by reusing waste building materials.

WRAP has funded BioRegional to set up ReIY Centres that will collect unwanted building materials from construction sites and sell them on to the general public and small scale trade market. The first ReIY Centres are planned for The Wirral, Waltham Forest and Tees Valley. When established they have the potential to bring a significant cost saving in disposal costs to the construction sector during this difficult time as well as saving natural resources and creating jobs.

ReIY Centres will follow in the footsteps of North America’s successful Building Material Reuse Centres where 150 Centres are run as not for profit ventures providing jobs and training in construction for local unemployed and young people.

Cara Whelan, ReIY Project Manager at BioRegional said:
”We have found that there’s fantastic support for ReIY Centres. They will save contractors money as it will be cheaper to send waste to a ReIY Centre than taking it to land fill. They will create jobs and what’s also really important is that they will save natural resources – a shocking 13% of construction materials never get used and end up in land fill sites”

By using ReIY Centres contractors and developers will find it easier to meet Site Waste Management Plan legislation and will improve their Code for Sustainable Homes and BREEAM scores.

The Wirrall, Waltham Forest and Tees Valley ReIY Centres are planned to open in spring 2009 delivered by local partners Groundwork Merseyside, Forest Recycling and Community Campus 87. BioRegional and its partner Waste Wise are currently developing plans for further Centres, including in Peterborough, and aim to develop a national network steering group over time. The first Centres will act as pilot schemes for what is hoped will become a national good practice model, replicable across the country with a standard set of operating systems and practices. Working with the delivery partners BioRegional will provide a consultancy service to establish the Centres and would like any interested parties across the UK to down load the business plan from
www.bioregional-reclaimed.com and get in touch.

Here’s what the partners have to say:

WasteWISE Consultants are helping BioRegional to deliver this project.
Lewis Herbert of WasteWISE commented:
“By researching this project with BioRegional since 2006 we have learnt many lessons from some stunning US reuse projects. So it is great to see leading UK social enterprises with just as big ambitions. The recession may be hitting the construction sector hard, but the fundamental win/win is still there. Building companies need to cut their costs, and sustainable new ReIY Centres can help them do just that, and also deliver badly needed training, jobs and regeneration.”

Derek Robertson, CEO Groundwork Merseyside, commented on the Wirral ReIY Centre:
“We are delighted to be leading on this enterprising initiative that operates within a localised economy to tackle the global and national issues of CO2 reductions and worklessness whilst making a positive contribution to the construction industry.”

Brian Kelly, Project Coordinator at Forest Recycling Project, commented on the Waltham Forest ReIY Centre:
”This project will bring numerous benefits, one being that it will provide jobs and skills for local unemployed and un-skilled people, jobs that we need now more than ever. If you are interested in working with us to help set up this project please get in touch”.

Chris Kemp, Project Manager Community Campus 87, commented on the Tees Valley ReIY Centre:
”As a leading social enterprise we recognise the vital role our sector has in helping to bring about the environmental revolution that is necessary if communities throughout the world are to deal with the challenges we all face. We are pleased to be working with local partners across all sectors to ensure the success of this initiative as it is entirely appropriate for an industrious area such as the Tees Valley to be amongst the first to do so.”

“Our aim is not to produce goods for people to buy but to create opportunities for people to live.”