During business renovations, a significant amount of construction waste tends to get thrown out without a second thought. However, the scene a dumpster diver stumbled upon outside of a dentist's office was a particularly egregious example of waste.
What's happening?
The Redditor shared their frustrating find along their usual dumpster-diving route to the r/Anticonsumption subreddit with a couple of pictures.
At the dumpster, they discovered stacks of unopened laminate flooring from the dentist's office renovation. The amount of waste was so great that the dumpster couldn't even close. The find outraged other Redditors.
"Not sure who in their right mind would throw that all away," one wrote.
"Habitat for humanity could use that, darn shameful it will be landfill filler," a disappointed user reacted.
"Exactly," the dumpster diver replied. "Sadly, it's easier for people to just throw away."
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Why is construction waste important?
This is just one especially obvious example of the amount of waste in the construction world. The industry accounts for one-third of the world's waste, per the BBC.
A Redditor pointed to a mismatch of incentives as part of the problem in the U.S.
"Lotsa companies do this," they claimed. "Especially anything government-funded, they need to spend all their budget in order to get more next year."
Not only is it wasteful to get rid of perfectly good materials, but it also costs us all in the long run. If they end up in landfills, the materials can contribute to planet-heating pollution, leach microplastics from plastic packaging, and take centuries to break down.
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Definitely 👍 That is, instead of contributing to a project for someone in need.
Did the dumpster diver do anything about this?
The dumpster diver did take matters into their own hands.
"I had a truck driver cheering me on as I loaded it into my truck lol," they shared in response to a poster.
While it's unclear what exactly they did with it, be it donating, reselling, or using it for themselves, that beats sending the flooring to the trash.
What's being done about construction waste more broadly?
Companies, scientists, and researchers are attacking construction waste from a variety of angles.
Prefabricated and modular construction are direct approaches to minimizing waste using technology that can more precisely use materials. That is mirrored by approaches that look holistically at the waste and find ways to reduce shipping and increase the reuse of materials.
A different approach looks to ensure that all plastic waste from construction sites is separated and sent out to be reused instead of ending up in landfills.
Lastly, attacking the materials head-on with alternatives like more sustainable concrete can reduce pollution and waste that occurs in construction.
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