The "Skinny" on Metal Recycling by Chloe Morel

We have received a lot of questions this year about recycling scrap metal, and so I’m here to do a guest blog! My name is Chloe Morel, and I’m an AmeriCorps volunteer here at RTSV working with the green program and volunteer coordination.

RTSV is proud to offer the option of recycling appliances and other metal for our homeowners, and we want to work with you to make this process as seamless and easy as possible. Please don’t hesitate to contact me at cmorel@rebuildingtogether-sv.org with any questions after reading this entry.

Here’s the skinny on “Heavy Metal” (appliances, scrap metal, e-waste):

• Each project is responsible for getting any Heavy Metal from their project to Rebuilding Together’s warehouse
• House Captains and Volunteer Coordinators have access to information about who in their group has a pickup truck available on Rebuilding Day through our database (rtsv.civicore.com). There are detailed instructions about how to access the database reports HERE 
• Resource Coordinators learned about this responsibility at training, and are expected to work with the HC and VC to coordinate a pickup truck onsite on Rebuilding Day
• There will be people at the Rebuilding Together warehouse all Rebuilding Day and the week after to direct/help with drop off of any Heavy Metal and e-waste
• If you have a question about whether we will be able to recycle an item, either refer to the Heavy Metal sheet in your handbook (on the back of appendix S), or call the office

After Rebuilding Day, wonderful volunteers take all of the (tons!) of scrap metal to a recycling facility. Through this practice we are not only helping the environment, but collecting money to help with the cost of future Rebuilding Day projects. Honestly a win-win!

Over the years, our ways of dealing with “Heavy Metal” has shifted and changed based on the needs of Rebuilding Together and of the projects. One of the most recent incarnations was the Heavy Metal squad, who drove around and picked up any recyclable metal from the job site on Rebuilding Day. We did away with this due to the desire of our volunteers to be more involved with the excitement of Rebuilding Day, and not feel like they were banished to driving around in a truck all day. We want each of our volunteers to have a great Rebuilding Day experience! This also came with the change from “Traveling Green Teams” who would blast 4-5 homes with energy efficiency upgrades, to a Resource Coordinator on every project who can focus on the needs of their homeowner. We’ve found that by centralizing projects and eliminating outside influence, our projects are stronger, smoother, and more impactful.