2002-2003 In 2002, ILSR inaugurated its Washington, DC deconstruction training program at the Stanton Dwellings public housing complex, working closely with the DC Housing Authority and Just U Wait’N See CDC (JUWNS), a community development corporation serving the residents of the Stanton community. ILSR provided screening and training guidelines to JUWNS to facilitate the selection, interview, … Read More
Recycling, composting and waste reduction have been a basic precept of sustainability . It is essential for a sustainable industrial economy. … Read More
When we think of great popular movements of the last century, the labor movement, the civil rights movement, the anti-war movement, and the women’s rights movement quickly come to mind. The recycling movement deserves to be added to this illustrious list, for it may be the largest multi-ethnic, multi-class, and multi-generation movement in American history.… Read More
Since the 1980s, Wal-Mart has received at least $150 million in local, state, and federal subsidies to build 47 distribution centers in 32 states, according to a study by The Palm Beach Post.
Onlythose subsidies that have been quantified in published reports were counted. "That number likely grows by tens of millions when unquantified breaks, such as government bond financing for construction, and ongoing breaks, such as those given to businesses in enterprise zones, are included," the newspaper notes.
Five radio stations in St. Louis are refusing Wal-Mart’s demand that they pull ads critical of the company’s labor practices. The ads, sponsored by the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 655, discuss working conditions, wages, and lack of health care at Wal-Mart stores. Wal-Mart claims the ads are false and misleading, but the UFCW stands behind their accuracy. … Read More
Summer 2003 ILSR conducted a Phase One deconstruction pilot project in cooperation with the City of Philadelphia Neighborhood Transformation Initiative (NTI) during the summer 2003. NTI is a multi-year strategy for eliminating blight ad revitalizing communities in Philadelphia. ILSR’s Jim Primdahl supervised the two City-chosen demolition contractors in the pilot project that resulted in the deconstruction … Read More
2002 ILSR helped the Umpqua County Community Development Corporation (UCCDC) prepare a successful application to HHS, providing funds to create 13 new jobs in deconstruction over three years. (Six low-income workers already have been trained and employed at this writing.) Once funds were awarded, we helped train UCCDC staff, primarily in business management and development to … Read More
In a Portland, Oregon, suburb, the six-man crew of DeConstruction, Inc., enters a three-bedroom house and, with hammers and crowbars, starts tearing the place apart. The cabinets and carpet are first to go. Then the doors are unhinged and the hardwood floors pulled up. Over the next week, the whole structure, windows to light fixtures to lumber, will be hauled out onto the lawn, sorted, and stacked. But unlike the wreckage generated by 95 percent of demolition jobs across the country, this stuff isn’t headed for the landfill.… Read More
NEWS RELEASE October 3, 2002 For Further Information Alameda County Waste Management Authority Bruce Goddard Public Affairs Director(510) 614-1699 Institute for Local Self Reliance Brenda Platt Director of Materials Recovery 202-898-1610 Alameda County Waste Management Authority Heralded as One of the Nation’s Best Washington, D.C. — Alameda County, California (pop. 1.46 million), has one of … Read More
