When Meredith Moore relocated from New York to Toronto, she was struck by the widespread home renovations—and the overflowing bins of construction waste.
"I’d see dumpsters packed with wood, trim, doors, and other materials that clearly weren’t trash," said Moore, a former interior designer with a passion for reusing materials.
When she and her family purchased a fixer-upper four years ago, she asked the contractors to salvage as much as possible. Their response? A resounding no. "They told us that’s not how things are done, that the materials were junk no one would use," Moore said.
Unwilling to accept this, Moore founded Ouroboros Deconstruction. Instead of demolition, her team focuses on carefully dismantling buildings to reuse and recycle materials.
Though deconstruction may appear slower, less efficient, and potentially more expensive than traditional demolition, it’s gaining traction among property owners and the construction industry. This method reduces waste and emissions by repurposing old materials.
The downside of demolition
Traditional demolition involves tearing apart buildings with machinery, creating a mix of wood, drywall, insulation, and other debris that often ends up in landfills. This contributes significantly to waste: approximately four million tonnes annually in Canada, with construction, renovation, and demolition (CRD) materials making up 30% of landfill content.
Wood is a major component of this waste and decomposes to release methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Cities like Vancouver, addressing housing shortages by replacing single-family homes with multiplexes, see thousands of demolitions annually. However, the process often damages materials, making them difficult to recycle.
The construction sector is a significant emitter, responsible for up to 37% of global carbon emissions, according to the UN. Around 30% of these emissions, known as embodied carbon, come from the energy used to produce building materials. Replacing a structure generates emissions equivalent to the materials used, meaning reusing and extending the life of materials is more sustainable.
A shift to deconstruction and reuse
Organizations like Vancouver-based LightHouse are promoting circular construction, which emphasizes recycling and reuse. A 2023 report from LightHouse estimates that 20% of demolished homes could have been relocated instead of destroyed.
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