Resurrection of Pre Loved Goods

Like many other new home owners, we embarked upon renovating our little home.  Full of vim and vigor parts of the project took shape relatively quickly.  I made a conscious decision not to use a skip for all materials pulled out of this 1950’s home.  This proved a challenge for a number of reasons.  Just what do you with what many would perceive as rubbish.

Plaster board can now be separated and processed through a local composting plant…a no brainer considering the amount we had to dispose of.  Concrete from two fireplaces; heavy dusty work and as concrete can last for thousands of years in our environment a solution was required.  I relented and organised a “concrete only skip”.  This was not only much cheaper than general waste, I also had the satisfaction this concrete was going to a concrete crushing plant were it would have a new life.
Next came the 20 year old pink batts from the ceiling.  Having lost much of its heat retaining ability it still had a use.  The antique insulation was double layered and used to insulate the walls of metal garage/shed at the bottom of the garden.  What’s more, any salvageable sheets of plaster board removed from the house were then used to turn this once steel lined only garage into a much nicer storage unit.

The old fireboxes, wetback, roofing iron and any other metal was placed to one side and collected by Hawke’s Bay Scrap Metal who even paid cash. Easy money… just a bit of time to sort things out.
Now the renovations are nearing completion it is time to focus on the clutter of items in storage.  After twelve months of not being used, are they still needed? And if not, what are the disposal options?  Hastings has some great charity shops and second hand dealers, where once loved items are given the chance of resurrection.  I spent last night trawling through ‘stuff’ which I hope someone will enjoy as much I once did.  While an easy option is to reach for the bin; considering the amount of resource invested in manufacturing these products, this should definitely be the last option. 

Happy spring cleaning.