Second Use

Finds new good homes for old things

Michael Armstrong had his first experience with recycled building materials when Camp Hanford was dismantled.

As the housing for Manhattan Project workers came down in the 1970s, his father bought beams and cinder blocks to build a home on family land near Benton City.

Young Michael's job was to chip the mortar from the blocks.

Armstrong, now 37, is still working with recycled materials as one of three owners of Second Use, a Seattle company that resells reusable materials.

About two-thirds of what you'll find at Second Use (washers, dryers, furnaces, an office drinking fountain, book shelves, crystal door knobs, bathtubs with claw feet, interlocking paving blocks shaped like fish, bleacher boards from Cleveland High School, windows, slabs of marble, doors, doors and more doors) comes from "strip-outs" that Second Use does of homes being remodeled or demolished.

The other third comes from people dropping off stuff. The store is next to a transfer station in South Park, and the goal of Second Use is to have people with reusable materials stop at the store before they head to the transfer station.

Carrie Serrance, outreach coordinator for Second Use, says she thinks they're making progress, recycling between 60 and 100 tons of material a month.

Do people come by with stuff that Second Use doesn't want?

"All day long," says Serrance, who can, with Armstrong, recite a list of the unwanteds: Pink toilets, hollow-core doors, single-pane or aluminum windows, hazardous materials and avocado-colored appliances.

"The person who figures out what to do with all the avocado appliances will retire rich," says Armstrong.

Armstrong lists three things the successful Second Use shoppers have: A good eye for what will fit and work in their homes, being handy and being lucky.

The luck especially comes into play when trying to match a certain style or era. You might find exactly what you need for that Craftsman cabinet on the first visit (the store is at 7953 Second Ave. S.). Or you might find it by checking the inventory online at www.seconduse.com. Or you may need to make several visits. The average shelf life for a Second Use item is about two weeks.

"Every time you come in," Serrance says, "it's a different store."