Oregon County Receives Grant Money to Improve C&D Recycling

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality has awarded a $46,328 solid waste grant to Deschutes County to bolster a program that reuses construction and demolition material from home building through a building surplus resale program.

The Deschutes County grant will be directed to the Bend Area Habitat for Humanity’s "ReStore Construction and Demolition Materials Salvage Program." Deschutes County and Habitat for Humanity are providing a match totaling $73,821. The monies will allow ReStore, a building surplus store, to broaden the amount of recycled construction and home building materials it collects through material donations from area home builders.

ReStore collects the discarded construction and demolition materials and sells them at a discount to the public. It contributes profits to the construction of affordable housing through the Bend Area Habitat for Humanity.

Expansion of the program is expected to forge new partnerships with five of the area’s top builders, with a goal of diverting 60,000 linear feet of lumber from the Deschutes County Landfill each month.

The program is not only expected to benefit local residents looking for affordable materials, but will also help local home builders attain more sustainable practices by not discarding their unused or waste building material. Builders will also benefit from avoiding disposal fees used to pay the landfill for disposal of the lumber and other materials that will be picked up free of charge by ReStore staff.