Event Description
At Scale, a panel of reclaimed building material innovators and entrepreneurs shared successes and challenges of the salvage business model and ideas for increased adoption of reused building materials into local construction projects. Attendees heard first-hand about existing reuse business operations across the city and discussed new models for future development.
Discussion Prompt:
What does it mean to "scale" reuse? What are the metrics for success?
What are new types of business models that can help us achieve these goals?
Panelists
“Using salvaged materials allows us to use our minds and imaginations to push design and function into really cool synergies.”
"If global sustainability is an overarching goal of the reuse movement, then new construction must decrease per capita, over time."
JOhn Mulrow
PhD Candidate: Industrial Ecology
University of Illinois at Chicago
"Nonprofits and social enterprises are critical to making reuse more accessible- we create skilled workers and jobs, offer educational community programming, and empower the public through access to low cost materials."
"We should view our building materials like any vintage market and celebrate that aged-to-perfection patina."
"We use reclaimed materials because of common sense and market demand for interior design aesthetics favoring authenticity and narrative qualities.”
"What intrigues me about working with salvaged materials are the stories that are told, both the historic narrative as well as the aesthetic tale expressed by the material itself."
Moderator
Venue
GREAT LAKES YARD is a woman-owned reclaimed lumber and salvage business selling the highest quality heritage materials. All of Great Lakes' lumber has been sustainably harvested across the Midwest region through deconstruction and demolition as an innovative model towards sustainable reuse. SCALE will be hosted at the Great Lakes operational warehouse in East Garfield Park. This is a great opportunity to engage with salvaged lumber and historical decorative artifacts first-hand.
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