Earlier this summer, the Environmental Protection Agency awarded $160 million in grants to support better construction and manufacturing projects. That includes $4 million to an Evanston company.
Billions of tons of construction materials like concrete and steel are used for buildings and infrastructure across the country.
The Evanston Rebuilding Warehouse will use the funds granted through the Inflation Reduction Act for its efforts to reuse building materials, reduce construction waste and train people seeking careers in trade. It will also use the funds to collect data that shows how this work reduces environmental impact.
Jennie Romer is the Deputy Assistant Administrator for Pollution Prevention for the EPA.
She says the company's recycling practices save emissions in materials as small as a brick.
“And so," Romer said, "for something like a brick, looking at those emissions from creating a new brick --- versus using a brick that already exists --- reusing, salvaging that brick, and that's something that Rebuilding Exchange has a whole lot of experience in and has seen benefits, as far as economic benefits of salvage and reuse. But measuring the climate benefits is something new.”
She also says that the data Rebuilding Exchange collects will be huge for understanding the impacts of construction on the climate.
“Those are investments in data and tools to really make high quality environmental product declarations. We want to make sure that we're really improving the quality of the data that's out there, and to standardize and expand the market for construction products made with lower greenhouse gas emissions.”
The EPA says the grants will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and support American jobs.