{"id":18042,"date":"2014-10-14T12:10:38","date_gmt":"2014-10-14T16:10:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress-367309-1145705.cloudwaysapps.com\/?p=18042"},"modified":"2014-10-14T12:10:38","modified_gmt":"2014-10-14T16:10:38","slug":"dumpster-diving-meet-living-building-challenge-requirements","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/dumpster-diving-meet-living-building-challenge-requirements\/","title":{"rendered":"Dumpster Diving to Meet Living Building Challenge Requirements"},"content":{"rendered":"

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All green building standards – whether LEED<\/a>, Green Globes<\/a>, or Living Building Challenge<\/a> – either encourage or even require percentages of recycled material. You might find this element met in the building itself, or in fixtures and furnishings, but in almost every case, you going to see “new” products mades for recycled material<\/a> (like the Icestone countertops in my parents’ bathrooms… which is gorgeous). Nothing wrong with that, but what about all the sinks, door knobs, doors, molding, and other materials torn out of older homes for renovations<\/a>, or left over from new construction? An awful lot of that material will end up in the landfill: about 160 million tons per year, according to the EPA<\/a>.<\/p>\n

So, why not just use that stuff in new green buildings? That’s exactly what the Chesapeake Bay Foundation is doing in the construction of its Brock Environmental Center<\/a> building in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The Foundation is aiming for LEED Platinum status, as well as Living Building Challenge certification, and according to the Foundation’s Hampton Roads Director Christy Everett, they’ve been dumpster diving for the past year and a half to collect usable materials for the new buildings. In her Huffington Post overview<\/a>, Everett lists the following salvaged materials:<\/p>\n