BIG idea in LIC: Build it Green NYC
by Rich AwnWhy doesn’t someone just reclaim everything, put it in a warehouse, sell it, and donate the proceeds to charity?
Too late, Long Island City’s Build it Green NYC (aka BIG) already does.
What at first seems like a waste storage facility is, upon closer inspection, the city’s grand depository for home improvement treasures, sorted and stacked in a wonderland of reclaimed artifacts.
The waste stream of building materials is a major issue with 16,500 tons of it pouring into our landfills every year. I found this out the hard way when I unearthed almost 2 tons of decades-old masonry and leaden materials from my backyard in Greenpoint, some of which has become pathways and sculptures in the ever evolving garden/phyto-restoration project back there.
The keen eyes of the BIG Team manage to pick out the good stuff from the roadside mounds and receive donations from anyone willing to haul their wares down to the BIG warehouse located near the water in Long Island City/Astoria. Proceeds from their deeply discounted sales benefit a cool organization called Solar 1 who provide education on renewable energy to local schools and stage awesome events to get people excited about being responsible for the way they consume/discard stuff.
Their staff is WAY more friendly than the Home Depot jerks (sorry HD… I love you but it’s hot chaos in there) and you can create an aesthetic for your project that you’d never be able to achieve from any other home improvement center anywhere… not to mention, everything’s half the price.
Here’s some stuff I stumbled on and this hardly scratches the surface…
