Getting Green by Going Green
By DAVID CHANG
Updated 8:30 PM EST, Mon, Nov 2, 2009
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Walking through a construction site you're sure to see piles of old cardboard, plastics and other scrap lying all over. For most people, the scattered mess is simply trash. But for Avi Golen and Jon Wybar -- it’s green.
Golen and Wybar’s business Revolution Recovery began four years ago as a place for contractors to take their building material waste.
“Once they entered one container...it was trash,” said Golen. “What we figured out is that if we could just separate those materials we could reintroduce them as products into the marketplace.”
The scraps are chopped up at Revolution Recovery's Holmesburg facility into mulch and then sold to various outlets. Some of the material is sold to local artisans who use it to make benches. The material is also used to make new cardboard, ceiling tiles, and other recycled items.
Its not just limited to carboard and plastics either -- dry wall, acoustic ceiling tiles and even steel is being recycled.
For Wybar, their unique method is as much of a moral issue as it is a business one. “The fact that they’re recycled and kept in the loop prevents the mining of raw materials, which is the main hazard to our environment.”
First Published: Oct 30, 2009 3:22 PM EST
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