I am a recovering Massachusetts dweller who used to work for a mostly environmental communications firm outside of Boston, so it was under some surprise that I randomly found a documentary playing on the Sundance channel that was entitled “The Greening of Southie“, which basically followed the development of the Maccallen Building in South Boston as it attempted to get an LEED certification of being a green building.

The interesting part of this movie was that it showed the very real issues that are going into green building development – the retraining of the construction workers for materials installation, the cost of travel for green materials and the prohibitive cost of living in green spaces. The most important of all the issues in the film highlighted the cultural differences between the ideology of green development and the army of workers that it effects. From the blue collar bricklayer to the upper middle class management who are trying to collate all of the existing materials together to get LEED certification – which ironically,? it appears to take an entire tree’s worth of paper to be certified as LEED.

My one problem with the project was that instead of installing solar panels on the roof of the building which would make the building much more energy efficient and reduce the tenant’s electrical bills, they installed some sort of roof shrubbery that grows in harsh climate and with minimal effort–but in a stroke of green karma retribution by the end of the film all of the plants had died, and would need to be replanted.

One of the thoughts that I had walking away from this was, yes, I think it is important to use more renewable goods instead of plastic laminate that will spend forever in a landfill after the construction & use process. But the most important thing we can do is to repurpose our existing living spaces using greener solutions – renewable flooring, carpeting, low VOC paints. The film is definatly worth a watch, however, after you do watch it, take a stroll over to the photojournalist essay on urban decay that is happening to the city of Detroit.

Ever since my parents moved to New England and purchased an antique colonial (built in 1739), they’ve spent their time, energy and money repairing, updating, and rebuilding this little piece of history. We all love the house (more so since the major renovations were completed in 2005), and my parents have worked hard to maintain the historical integrity of the structure while still adding their own touches and updating the space to suit their needs.

When planning the original renovations (which included the construction of a small addition, the complete remodeling of the kitchen, the replacement of 7 out of 10 corners of the house (!), new windows, the re-clapboarding of most of the exterior, and a new floor plan for half of the first floor), my mom and dad hired 2 amazing contractors who specialize in working on old houses.

The contractors – Robin and Bill – spent months ripping out rotted posts, fitting level windows into less-than-level walls, designing a functional staircase for the most frustrating space possible, figuring out how unsupported walls were still standing, building new bathrooms, and generally fixing every problem you could possibly imagine (boulders beneath the kitchen floor, rotted-out walls, antiquated everything). And while Robin and Bill did the heavy lifting (and hammering and building and installing), my parents did what they could to cut costs, speed up construction, and reduce the waste generated in the renovations.

One of my parents’ main concerns during the construction was in reducing construction waste, recycling what could be salvaged, and reusing materials whenever possible. Construction jobs generally generate lots and lots of trash (everything from old appliances to lumber tends to get tossed in dumpsters), but my parents were committed to making their project as green as possible. And they seemed to have succeeded in that regard – according to their contractors, the waste generated during the renovations of my parent’s house was about 50% less than the waste generated on their typical jobs.

One way that my mom and dad reduced their output was by reusing fixtures, doors, moldings and floorboards that were already stashed away somewhere in the house. Instead of buying new doors, they used doors that had lived in the attic for over 100 years. Instead of pouring a concrete walk, they built a path using bricks a friend had been planning on trashing. My dad cut down old doors and built a cover for their 50 X 55 inch fireplace, while my mom crafted a pot rack out of a discarded metal wheel she found on the side of the road.

My parents also visited salvage yards (specifically Antique Salvage Inc. in Exeter, New Hampshire) and bought columns for their front porch, floor joists, and a sink for their potting bench. The floorboards in their front hallway were the original attic boards, and are amazing foot-wide boards that you simply cannot buy. When the front porch was built, my mom had a massive stone (dug out during construction) hauled to the front of the house, and installed as a step up to the porch. My parents reused anything they could, and were able to incorporate their green principles into the structure of their home.

If you’re contemplating a home renovation, you may not have the same stock of stuff my parents had when they were working on their project (when you are married for 39 years, and you buy a 269 year-old home, you just have a lot of everything), but you can take baby steps to reduce your footprint in the process.

1. Consider buying light fixtures, doors, garden accessories, and lumber from architectural salvage yards. These businesses are repositories of all kinds of interesting, difficult to find, and antique building materials that are generally less expensive and more environmentally-friendly than buying similar new materials.

2. Think of your town or city’s transfer station (or dump) as a place to drop-off and potentially pick-up stuff. My parents rescued several plants that had been left at the dump – perfectly good plants that would have otherwise died, and which now thrive in their yard. You can sometimes find discarded bricks, lumber and other building materials at dumps too – just check with your city’s rules regarding removing materials from the dump.

3. While installing new windows and doors isn’t cheap, your investment will be repaid in lower energy costs and a cozier home once the weather turns cold. Make sure you replace windows and exterior door with energy efficient upgrades. My parents went with Marvin Windows for their home (specifically because they fit the architectural style of their house), but Pella and Anderson Windows also make energy efficient models.

4. Don’t just throw away appliances, building materials and fixtures that are ripped out during construction. While my mom got a beautiful new sink for her kitchen, she held on to the old sink and installed it in her art studio. You can breathe new life into light fixtures, doors, floorboards and other items by using them differently elsewhere in your home.

5. If you need specific items to finish a project, don’t just head to the store and buy something new. Post your need on a bulletin board like CraigsList, scour the classifieds in your local newspaper and in building publications (such as This Old House), and don’t be ashamed to grab discarded items off of curbs on trash day! One man’s trash is truly another man’s treasure, and people throw out all kinds of perfectly clean, usable items. Yard sales, flea markets and antique stores can be good places to find items you need to finish your renovations, so consider getting up early on the weekends before simply heading out to buy stuff at Target.

For too long we’ve been a society that’s ready to junk what’s old and replace it with newly minted products that aren’t made using sustainable practices. It’s time to change our habits and start redefining our definition of garbage. Home renovations are expensive to begin with, but you can cut costs and cut your waste if you take some of the above practices into consideration when you think about updating your home.

All photos courtesey of Ann & Charlie Bacon.