In spring of this year, Seattle Public Utilities and King County Solid Waste partnered to apply for a Washington State Department of Ecology Recycling Market Development Center one-time grant. We were awarded $50,000 to build up the circular clean wood supply chain through outreach, engagement, and training. 
Photo by: Dave Bennink
In spring of this year, Seattle Public Utilities and King County Solid Waste partnered to apply for a Washington State Department of Ecology Recycling Market Development Center one-time grant. We were awarded $50,000 to build up the circular clean wood supply chain through outreach, engagement, and training.
Photo by: Paul Kemp
We used this funding to support demonstration projects by three businesses to expand local salvaged lumber markets. The projects were completed this summer with the following outcomes.
- Reuse Consulting trained two new companies on deconstruction and dismantled a house into panels that were used to build a shed.
- Rainier Wood and Sankofa joined together to pilot collection of clean, unused lumber and plywood from construction sites for diversion to reuse. They also sorted out unbroken pallets from incoming wood recycling and partnering with a company that can put those pallets to use.
- Earthwise planed painted bleachers and resized church pews to create valuable and beautiful products that can be sold locally. Watch a video about this project.
The more robust private industry we have locally for reselling salvaged lumber, the better the City can support the flow of material to those markets for reuse. Expanding expertise in this field is necessary to better implement the City’s current salvage and deconstruction requirements.
SDCI’s green building permitting incentives, Priority Green Expedited and the Green Building Standard, requires lead hazard mitigation. This mitigation requirement can be achieved by deconstructing or incorporating salvaged building materials in the new project. Deconstruction results in less site disturbance and recovers valuable materials for reuse.
As a reminder, Seattle requires permit applicants to complete a Salvage Assessment for all demolitions and for remodeling projects when the project is greater than $75,000 in value or larger than 750 square feet. Salvage Assessments are not required for new construction. Visit the Salvage Building Materials webpage for more information. If you have questions, please email wastediversionreport@seattle.gov.