Reducing, Reusing, Recycling: Habitat’s environmental impact
Planning for future generations is at the heart of Habitat for Humanity’s core values. We strive to change the intergenerational poverty structure by making lasting changes that build lasting wealth. Looking forward also means thinking about the natural environment and the responsibility we have as builders and members of society. What we do today has a considerable impact on our natural world both now and in the future.
South Puget Sound Habitat for Humanity (SPSHFH) is strongly committed to putting our core beliefs into action, starting with the eco-friendly building materials we use and the practices we employ. From start to finish, sustainability is our focus. Our building process follows the Evergreen Sustainable Development Standards that seek to both preserve the natural environment and enhance the quality of life of residents in affordable housing. Elements of these standards consider water conservation, energy efficiency, healthy indoor atmosphere, and the density, livability, and services available in the neighborhoods where Habitat housing is constructed. SPSHFH hopes to build projects that have net-zero goals, wherein the long run homeowners will see a return on their investment from the solar panels on their Habitat homes that sell electricity back to the grid. How we physically build homes and their components and location have an impact on the environment. Yet, there’s so much more to what SPSHFH does that promotes sustainability.
We operate two Habitat Stores in Thurston County. The Stores offer deeply discounted new and gently used items that range from furniture, appliances, home improvement products, and building materials to tools, windows, plumbing fixtures, and cabinets. Both stores are open to the public and everyone is welcome to shop. They’re reduce, reuse, recycle kind of places. You can buy donated, recycled, and overstock pieces and have a direct effect on not only keeping waste out of the landfill but also helping fund SPSHFH projects. And, the more you donate to the Habitat Stores, the more low-income members of our community get into affordable healthy green housing.
Donating your furniture or building materials makes an impact. For the last 15 years, starting with our first Habitat Store in Olympia and followed by the second one in Yelm six years later, thousands of tons of potential refuse have been diverted from the dump. In fact, in just the last three years, over 3,100 tons of reusable home and building supplies have gone out the doors of the Habitat Stores to a new life instead of into the ground. The Habitat Stores are also approved PaintCare centers where you can drop off unused paint that will be recycled and sold. If your donation is too large to move, click here or contact us at 360–956–3456 ext. 2, and we’ll pick it up for free.
There are even more avenues for you to actively help SPSHFH promote sustainability. The donation of a vehicle to our Cars for Homes program takes older inefficient cars off the road, saving gas and improving air quality. Thirty percent of the cars donated to SPSHFH are recycled or sold for parts; recycling steel uses less energy, fewer resources, and produces less carbon pollution.
Our summer online fundraiser, Repurpose for a Reason, promotes upcycling used items and is a great way to engage our supporters and donors in reusing. Up for auction are donated repurposed, refurbished, and art-based items that have been created by do-it-yourself enthusiasts and creative community members. Besides raising funds, the event highlights for SPSHFH donors how the vital work of creating affordable housing and the environment interrelate.
Money given directly to SPSHFH and funds raised from our Stores build homes that put safe, affordable housing within closer reach for many people. But beyond helping lift families out of the cycle of poverty, SPSHFH has a commitment and vested interest in an environmentally sustainable future. Henry David Thoreau wrote, “What is the use of a house if you haven’t got a tolerable planet to put it on?” By supporting SPSHFH, you are creating a win for our community and the future.