Recycling Katrina

The Green Project likes to take it slow. Rather than demolish condemned New Orleans buildings (which are not hard to find in the still-recovering city), the local nonprofit organization prefers to “deconstruct” them. “If you bulldoze a building and grind it up, you’re throwing away tons of opportunities,” says the Green Project’s Laura Paul. Instead, doors, windows, light fixtures, and other materials are carefully removed by the Green Project and resold. The practice keeps extra waste from landfills and, perhaps more importantly, it also keeps New Orleans’s unique architectural heritage alive and affordable for cash-strapped residents hoping to rebuild in traditional styles. Not surprisingly, business is booming.

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