Remodeling Reuse Minnesota Materials Exchange Catalog cover, Issue 1 - 2002 available When Art Johnson, remodeling contractor for Additional Living Concepts (ALC), worked on a home in southern Cass County, he had thousands of pounds of kitchen cabinets, appliances, oak boards, interior doors, drapes, carpet and miscellaneous furniture to remove. He didn’t feel right about knocking everything down and hauling it to a landfill. After a couple of calls, ALC found the North Central Materials Exchange—MATEX. MATEX coordinator, Brita Sailer, visited the site and found the materials in excellent condition. She knew many nonprofit organizations in Cass and Crow Wing counties would welcome them. Dave Terdan's nonprofit vocational training center reused unwanted materials from a contractor's remodeling project, including an oak hutch and cabinets, and wicker furniture. wanted One of those nonprofits was the Northern Cass County Developmental Achievement Center (DAC), a vocational training center for adults with developmental disabilities. Director Dave Terdan picked up most of the cabinets to furnish the new second hand store for gently-used clothing and household miscellaneous items run by the DAC as a job training center in Walker. He also took a few items to sell at the store. The DAC was able to reuse the cabinets as check-out and display counters and to hold supplies. An oak hutch serves as a display case. All of these free furnishings saved the nonprofit from spending over $5,000 for new cabinets. The DAC took about 2,330 pounds of unwanted materials from the remodeling site. An additional 1,150 pounds of furniture and lumber found new homes through the Cass County Social Services program and the Cass County furniture exchange. The remodelers had to store these materials inside the house for a few days, but they were willing to work around them. Because Art needed one less thirty-yard dumpster at the job site, he saved $130 in avoided disposal costs. But, he didn’t do it for the money. “It’s important to get materials back into the community for reuse,” said Art. “We’re a small company. I enjoy seeing people able to reuse the stuff.” ALC kept nearly 3,500 pounds of material out of the landfill.