The City of Victoria is pushing a new bylaw that will increase reusable building materials, while limiting the demolition of houses.
Part of the City’s commitment identified in Zero Waste Victoria, this action is meant to bring the City 15 per cent of the way towards its waste reduction goal of 50 per cent by 2040.
This direction by Council is aligned with the Capital Regional District’s newly adopted Solid Waste Management Plan, which aims to cut waste by a third over the next ten years.
According to the City, deconstruction, rather than conventional demolition, involves taking apart a house in the reverse order it was built, thus allowing nearly all the materials to be diverted from landfill and either reused or recycled. Some of these salvageable materials include old growth lumber used to build homes up until the 1960’s.
“There are significant economic, social and environmental benefits to reusing salvaged building materials, all of which help Victoria to become a resilient community,” said Mayor Lisa Helps.
“With our landfill filling up, lumber shortages sweeping across the country, and the economic impacts of COVID-19, we are taking advantage of the value in our existing resources and starting the shift to a circular economy.”
