trecycling and freecycling

home	the existing house	our plans	thermal performance	renewable technology	mechanical and electrical	recycling and freecycling	the garden	project progress	links	about us - contact

	The idea of the Recycled House is to create a sustainable house with excellent environmental performance - the approach we have taken is to work with the existing structure and reuse as much of the material which comes out of the house as possible. All reusable timber is being stored for future use, for example floorboards from the house will be used in the garden studio. Clean wood which is not reusable is used for heating. Bricks from internal walls which have been removed have been cleaned and stored, again for the garden studio and other uses in the garden. All rubble is being used either to raise the level of the front garden to create an off road parking area which will be permeable to rainwater, or to build up tracks in local woodland. Excavated topsoil has been used to create raised beds for vegetable planting and other soil for building up levels in the garden. Anything potentially useful which can't be reused in the house is offered on Freecycle or taken to a local charity shop. So far we have freecycled kitchen units, bathroom fittings, doors, a fire surround, a complete fireplace, a garden sundial and birdbath, carpets and a washing machine. One unusual and highly successful freecycle item was around 30 mature rosebushes - we were overwhelmed by responses. The final recourse is a trip to the local council recycling depot - but everything is separated and bagged up to maximise effective recycling. So far we have made five trips to the tip in twelve months, we have had three skips but these have gone to a company that promises to recycle over 70%, so very little has gone to landfill.