At a time of rising lumber costs and diminishing quality, a little Cortes Island business has been demonstrating how the materials from existing houses can be reused in a variety of ways.
“We call our business Creative Deconstruction. We take apart buildings by hand and sell the building materials that are still in good condition to people who are building. We also try to process whatever can’t be reused in ways that are also healthy,” explained Max Thaysen.
For several years Billie Fleming has been collecting and dealing with waste from Cortes Island residences and government docks. She’s passionate about reducing the amount of garbage destined for landfill.
Fleming’s vision is to create a so-called “Re-Store” a place where items can be repaired, brought back to life and resold. She also sees the idea as a way to reduce consumption of brand new items, by giving new life to partially used objects already bought, but then dumped.
