When private buildings become public burdens, they’re usually demolished and sent to landfills. But what if there was a way to re-purpose those old materials when a building outlives its usefulness? That’s the idea behind “domicology.” Current State’s Kevin Lavery has the story.
The recycling movement in the U.S. has come a very long way since the first Earth Day more than 45 years ago. What began as trendy activism is now a cultural consciousness and a thriving industry. So many materials are recycled today...paper, plastic, chemicals, computers...why not the very buildings in which we live and work? That’s the theory behind a study now underway at Michigan State University.
Current State’s Kevin Lavery reports that the Center for Community and Economic Development at MSU has been studying ways to repurpose abandoned structures. The center’s director, Rex LaMore, says MSU wants to launch a project in Muskegon in hopes of generating a so-called “de-construction economy.”