A tub grinder reduces the wood, removing nails with a magnet. Central does landfill some materials for lack of markets or, like some roofing systems, because it can't clean and recycle them economically. The Reusable Building Materials Exchange operates as a Web-based bulletin board where users can post available or sought materials. The Energy Outreach Center, a nonprofit organization in Washington State, devised the system that enables local governments anywhere to set up exchanges. Subscribers receive their own waste exchange bulletin board and marketing materials to help notify potential users of the service.
Any user can respond to a posting by contacting the poster directly.
The listings offer a good balance of available and sought materials across a wide range of categories. Most recycled plastic lumber manufacturers are now much more discriminating in their raw material selection so the latest products come in an array of colors with virtually no voids. High-quality plastic lumber products are cropping up in a variety of demanding applications. A few makers produce plastic lumber for structural applications, some adding reinforcing agents like fiberglass to improve stiffness and strength. Polywood, Inc. of South Plainfield, New Jersey supplied structural plastic lumber made from a blend of recycled HDPE and polystyrene for a bridge at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri.