The scene inside the high-ceilinged Northeast Portland warehouse looks like a hybrid between a rummage sale and Home Depot.
Scattered across the warehouse are windows, cabinets, bathtubs, toilets and a host of other salvaged items. Even home appliances and furnaces have a place on the lot.
A ray of sunlight shines in overhead through a skylight. The skylight, from the penguinarium at the Oregon Zoo, was donated like every other item in the warehouse.
These items make up The ReBuilding Center on North Mississippi Avenue, the largest nonprofit reuse center in North America. The center takes in and reuses items that would otherwise occupy landfills.
“The idea of relationships and turning waste into assets flows through everything that we do,” said Corinna Buchholz, who has worked for The ReBuilding Center for six years.
Buchholz said the center will accept nearly any reusable item that could be used in a home or building. Donations come primarily from residents of Washington, Clark, Multnomah and Clackamas counties.
An average of eight tons of items are reused through The ReBuilding Center each day, according to Buchholz, and most products are priced at 50 to 90 percent less than retail.
Starting with a vision
Founded by Our United Villages in 1998, the 65,000-square-foot center rests in an up-and-coming North Portland neighborhood that is saturated with colorful cafes and boutiques.
Following a drive-by shooting on Christmas Eve in 1996, a group of locals feared its neighborhood would be overtaken by crime and violence.
With this concern came Our United Villages and an overriding vision from the organization that prides itself on community outreach. The crux of that vision was to unite neighbors and eliminate social ills under the notion that every person has a piece to contribute to the effort of enhancing communities.
“When you go out in the community and say, ‘I work at The ReBuilding Center,’ 75 percent of the time people say, ‘I love that place,'” said Our United Villages Assistant Director Chris Bekemeier. “It’s because they know we’re doing some cool things.”
Portland State students get involved
The entire warehouse at The ReBuilding Center has a faint Portland State tinge to it. That is because some PSU students designed and created the hanging signs that denote the warehouse’s various sections.
Now a group of Portland State students is continuing the connection with The ReBuilding Center, as seven community development undergraduates are working in conjunction with the center on a project for their colloquium class.
One group member, Sarah Williams, said the project is based around projecting how much building material can be salvaged when structures are demolished. The focus of the research is zoned between Interstate Avenue and Mississippi Avenue, and Fremont Avenue and Lombard Avenue in Northeast Portland.
“We are trying to figure out how much potential material can be salvaged and kept out of a landfill,” Williams said.
Williams said the group has been working closely with Metro to gather data about the buildings within the zone.
Several modes of outreach
While The ReBuilding Center is the main attraction, there are several other sustainable services offered through Our United Villages.
DeConstruction services are offered through the center and are methods of dismantling a building, house, kitchen or other structure, using bare hands and not a wrecking ball.
Due to the meticulous handwork, three to six workers are necessary for jobs that would otherwise need one worker using standard demolition. Crews can salvage up to 85 percent of the materials for reuse.
Another service of The ReBuilding Center is the ReFind Furniture department, which is used to make furniture, such as tables and cupboards, out of donated materials that are in poor condition. Ninety-nine percent of the materials used to construct the furniture are salvaged.
Much of the on-site Our United Villages office was crafted with the same idea of being resourceful and relying on whichever materials are available. The flooring inside the office is made from heavy commercial doors that would otherwise most likely remain unused and wood scraps that combine to act as suitable walls and tables.
In addition to the other services, local experts teach educational classes on plumbing, carpentry and working with power tools at the ReFind shop.
“It’s not so much to create fine furniture for people to purchase, but instead for inspiration,” Bekemeier said. “The whole idea for the ReFind is to inspire people and help them realize that you can take these old things and make them beautiful.”
LEARN MORE
The ReBuilding Center3625 N. Mississippi Ave.503-331-1877
Hours: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sunday
For more information about the center and class schedules, visit www.rebuildingcenter.org.