B+A New Jersey

6 W HEN COMPANIES COMMIT to reducing their carbon footprint, they often seek to adopt environmentally friendly practices that will help them consume less water and less elec- tricity — less energy overall. But sustainable practices can actually begin during construction and continue through each stage, up to demolition. "During the past 10 years, green building has emerged as a driving motivation in the building industry, and a lot of attention has been paid to the importance of recycling," says Tom Napier, Research Architect and Principal Investigator with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Construction Engineering Research Laboratory. "But reuse is actually a less-intrusive, higher-order use of materials." Readapting an Age-Old Practice Reusing and repurposing building materials is nothing new, says Napier. During the early 20th centur y, before industrial practices made it relatively inexpensive to buy new materials, builders relied heavily on saving and reusing scrap materials when building a new home or commercial building. Salvage and reuse were the standard practices until factories and assembly lines made their entrance. For decades, it was more cost-eff ective to produce new materials than to spend extra money, time and energy on recycling or restoring things that were previously used. However, as the world has become increasingly aware of benefi ts associated with reduced consumption, the focus has shifted back toward the virtues of reusing materials such as glass, steel, stone and wood. Napier and some of his colleagues are careful to point out that there is a diff erence between "reusing" and "recycling" materials. According to exper ts at Nor theastern University, the former specifi cally refers to dismantling buildings at the end of their useful life and then refabricating the materials. Recycling refers to breaking down a material and using it as a diff erent substance to create a new product. The Added Benefi t of Beauty Though many manufacturers have grown adept at creating vintage-inspired materials, it is impossible to recreate the true seasoning of age. "When you are using 300-year-old materials, you are creating one - of-a-k ind pieces t hat cannot be duplicated ," says Joh n Gavin, Co-owner of Historical Bricks, a company that supplies recla i med mater ia ls to a rc h itec t s , bu i lder s , desig ner s a nd homeowners. "Homes across the United States are made using reclaimed materials." To learn more about reusing materials, talk to the experts at the Building Materials Reuse Association. Visit their website at www.bmra.org. n By Katy Mena-Berkley Smarter Waste Management: Repurposing Saves Green in More Ways than One The key to keeping the building process green is making materials last. THE EPA CITES THE following benefi ts of reusing construction materials: » Financial gains. Disposal fees and transportation costs can make it quite expensive to throw materials away. Alternately, reusing items may cost nothing at all. » Landfi ll conservation. By reusing materials instead of tossing them, builders can help save space in landfi lls and the money necessary to maintain them. » Reduced emissions. Reusing materials decreases the need to extract raw materials and resources from the ground. Additionally, materials do not have to be newly manufactured or shipped as far. CORE SPRING features departments On the Cover 6 BUILDING EXCELLENCE AT EVERY LEVEL The Metropolitan Builders & Contractors Association of NJ (METRO) addresses major issues in the building industry while fostering collaboration and trust among its growing membership, which includes builders, materials suppliers, subcon- tractors, trades personnel, architects, LAW MATTERS ........................... 10 CONCRETE RELEASE AGENTS ... 14 STRUCTURAL FILL MATERIAL ... 17 DESIGNED FABRICS .................... 18 2014 contents 12 6 engineers, attorneys, marketing services, and banking and finance professionals. However, the ultimate beneficiaries of METRO's work are homeowners. 12 SMARTER WASTE MANAGEMENT: REPURPOSING SAVES GREEN IN MORE WAYS THAN ONE In the green building world, great emphasis has been placed on recycling, but architecture can often be more sustain- able when builders reuse construction materials. According to the EPA, repurpos- ing can lead to financial gains — and not only because clients will pay a premium for going green.

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