Build Reuse

Our Mission

Our mission is to empower communities to turn construction and demolition waste into local resources. 

About Us

Build Reuse is a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit established in 1994 that serves as the premier national organization encouraging the recovery, reuse, and recycling of building materials in the United States. We are also committed to developing social investment and workforce development programs in the deconstruction industry. Our vision is to transform our communities by creating a building industry in which used and excess materials become an asset and waste is no longer acceptable.

About our Name

Our organization was first founded in 1994 by a small group of dedicated individuals who came together in Winnipeg, Manitoba to create the Used Building Materials Association.  From the beginning, it has been the dedication of individual volunteers and members who have supported the organization and helped it grow. The names and faces of the volunteers have changed over the years, ranging from students who gave their afternoons to board members who dedicated years of their expertise to secure our incorporation and non-profit status. We renamed the organization Building Materials Reuse Association (BMRA) in the process.

We celebrated our 25th birthday in 2019, which prompted us to dig deeply into not just how our organization functions, but why it functions.  Those conversations led us to the realization that our language as an organization - our very name - needed to better reflect our growth and impact as a community. From there, Build Reuse was born.