Narrator: About one third of all waste in New York City
comes from construction and demolition sites.
Almost all of that is reusable,
but most of it ends up in landfills.
That's a problem.
And that needs a system change.
It needs a redo.
OK, let's load this in.
Narrator: That's what inspired Amber Lasciak
to found a company that makes custom furniture
using construction waste.
Box-truck life.
Oh, I have been called the queen of trash
for obvious reasons,
because I've make a life of transforming trash.
Narrator: Like the $4,200 Condor couch.
The plywood came from a building site.
The frame is scrap metal.
And an ice cream factory provided a barrel for the armrests.
But turning trash into a luxury furniture
requires a skilled hand.
Gary: In 53 years in the business,
I've done just about everything
but use recycled materials.
Narrator: Can the company make a dent
in a city that generates 150 Statue of Liberties' worth
of construction waste every day?
We went to Brooklyn to see how Redu makes upscale furniture
out of worldwide waste.
The Redu team makes weekly runs
to pick up materials from construction sites and companies
around the Red Hook neighborhood.
I've actually put on a crown and a big dress.
I'm going to be the queen of trash.
Why not?
Knocking on doors and finding out
what kind of trash people have,
they don't forget you.
What's going on?
Everything that we get is local.
It's within 15 minutes of where we are.
Eli: Good to see you again.
Amber: Let's see.
Narrator: Just a few blocks away from Redu's home base,
Eli Fernald is working on a four-story residential building.
I'm happy for anybody who's getting involved
to try to take construction material out of the waste stream
that could very easily be reused.
Narrator: Here they'll pick up wasted wood,
masonry debris, and any other scraps
Amber thinks could come in handy.
Amber: OK, and then let's get some of that netting.
Awesome.
It's like a set,
but this is one part, and this is another part.
Narrator: They plan what they'll make
from recovered waste at weekly design meetings.
The first construction site we went to
had all this netting,
which I think is super amazing.
It's incredibly durable.
Narrator: First, they sketch out designs
before making a virtual 3D mock-up.
Then they move to the workshop.
They nicknamed it the Condor couch.
I don't know who came up with that name,
but it's pretty interesting.
Narrator: Andres Dieppa starts by
cutting a metal barrel in half,
which comes with unique problems.
Andres: It had a purpose at some point in time.
So you never know the finishing on it.
The painting, there's sometimes toxic materials.
Narrator: He then welds each half onto a metal frame
and attaches the legs.
Kayakone Nonthaveth handles the shelves under the armrests.
He's been repurposing waste since he was a kid.
Kayakone: My dad, he always have like, just these reclaimed things
as like, a panel for a wall.
Narrator: He cuts plywood boards down to size
to build the shelves under the armrests.
Then he smooths out any rough edges on the board.
Kayakone: It's a reclaimed piece of wood,
so I had to sand down the oil.
Narrator: Finally, he stains the shelves with a rag.
Now that the shelves are complete,
the upholsterer, Gary Wright,
who worked for Redu when this video was filmed, steps in.
I do a lot. Everything.
I even spill blood sometimes.
Narrator: For this couch,
he's using recycled yoga mats and deadstock fabric,
overstock materials that Redu sources
from a local textile recycler.
First, Gary staples padding down onto a wooden board,
which will become part of the seat.
Then he carefully sews fabric
to fit over the padded seats and cushions.
Gary: So I do every piece that I work on
like it's going to,
I don't know his first name,
but last name Rockefeller.
Narrator: Finally, the boards and cushions
are placed on the metal frame to complete the Condor couch.
Gary: OK, get the bottom.
I got the top.
Narrator: Some items Redu makes are one of a kind,
like this 500-pound reclaimed oak table.
Producer: What does a custom job like that cost?
None of your business — no.
(Both laugh)
Amber: The way that we price out our jobs with our clients
really is just about materials and labor,
and that's it.
Narrator: Most items are made to order,
but they keep their most popular products
like their benches and stools in stock.
We originally said 3 o'clock.
We're having a little bit of an issue right now.
My main concern is the color differentiation.
Narrator: With some of the custom projects,
the team can work right up until delivery.
Amber: Where are the movers?
They're not here.
A lot of times, yeah,
there is last-minute stuff that needs to be done,
and it's showtime,
and you just got to make sure it happens.
Narrator: Gary uses fine brushes and tints
that match the grain of the wood to cover those blemishes.
When you're dealing with recycled materials,
you run into flaws and blemishes that you have to touch up.
We have the construction site, we have George, metal.
Narrator: Amber worked in TV and film for 15 years
before launching this business.
I had this sort of brewing sense
that I wasn't contributing
in the way that I really wanted to contribute.
Narrator: That's when she scribbled out the idea
to use construction waste to make furniture in her notebook.
There was a lot of work that went into
seeing if something that was an idea in a notebook
could come to fruition and really work.
Narrator: After years of trial and error,
the company says it has now used roughly
1.2 million pounds of waste.
But that's just a drop in the bucket of a growing problem.
Amber: All right, come on.
As far as, like, overall waste pie,
how much is construction demolition waste?
Maybe a little bit higher,
because New York never stops building, right?
Narrator: In the five boroughs,
developers are supposed to cart away their own waste.
Some contractors bring their dumpsters here.
Cooper Recycling sorts a whole lot of mixed construction
and demolition waste.
Naomi: On a typical day,
we get between 450 and 500 trucks coming in with material.
William: We sort it with those excavators.
We put it into our operating system,
where everything gets processed.
What's recoverable gets extracted
and separated according to its material type.
Narrator: Concrete can be crushed to make new concrete,
wood can be chipped,
and metal can be refined and smelted for reuse.
While the city has 22 facilities like this
that sort and recycle construction waste,
more than half of it still ends up in landfills.
That's because a typical construction manager
has almost no incentive to reuse waste.
The probably sad truth here
is that there's not much money in it for you,
construction manager, other than maybe metals.
Narrator: So why would someone send their construction
and demolition waste to Cooper?
Because the company has a reputation
for quickly processing debris from a job site.
We could be on the property for no more than 15 minutes.
Narrator: Besides keeping waste out of landfills,
companies that repurpose construction materials
save a lot of energy,
the equivalent of more than 85 million barrels of oil
every year.
Amber thinks her business model can work in other places.
She plans to open Redu locations in Miami; Hudson, New York;
and other cities in the near future.
Amber: Each place will have
a place where we manufacture on the spot
and we also do retail.
Narrator: Other countries are further along
in how they deal with construction waste.
The United Kingdom manages to recycle 90%.
And while the US has a long way to go before it catches up,
Amber and her crew hope their model can inspire others.
Amber: Like, look at this.
People will look at it and say, "Hey, we could do that."
And that's the whole point.
We want a lot of companies to do this.
Amber: I think education is one of the most important ways
that we can really get people to understand
that there's value.
These are nutrients that they're throwing away, not garbage.