• Bookstore

WRAP has funded BioRegional to set up ReIY Centres that will collect unwanted building materials from construction sites and sell them on to the general public and small scale trade market. The first ReIY Centres are planned for spring 2009 in The Wirral, Waltham Forest and Tees Valley. When established they will have the potential to bring a significant cost saving in disposal costs to the construction sector during this difficult time as well as saving natural resources and creating jobs.

ReIY Centres will follow in the footsteps of North America's successful Building Material Reuse Centres where 150 Centres are run as not for profit ventures providing jobs and training in construction for local unemployed and young people.

Cara Whelan, ReIY Project Manager at BioRegional said:
"We have found that there's fantastic support for ReIY Centres. They will save contractors money as it will be cheaper to send waste to a ReIY Centre than taking it to land fill. They will create jobs and what's also really important is that they will save natural resources – a shocking 13% of construction materials never get used and end up in land fill sites."

By using ReIY Centres contractors and developers will find it easier to meet Site Waste Management Plan legislation and will improve their Code for Sustainable Homes and BREEAM scores.

The Wirrall, Waltham Forest and Tees Valley ReIY Centres are planned to open in spring 2009 delivered by local partners Groundwork Merseyside, Forest Recycling and Community Campus 87. BioRegional and its partner Waste Wise are currently developing plans for further Centres, including in Peterborough, and aim to develop a national network steering group over time. The first Centres will act as pilot schemes for what is hoped will become a national good practice model, replicable across the country with a standard set of operating systems and practices. Working with the delivery partners BioRegional will provide a consultancy service to establish the Centres and would like any interested parties across the UK to download the business plan from its website.