Earth Day is an opportunity to help clean the environment, build sustainability and appreciate nature. Spectrum News 1 spoke with one organization doing its part to clean the environment and create career opportunities.

With Wednesday being Earth Day this week, sustainability is back in the spotlight and is a mission that drives impact year-round for local organizations across Ohio.

Construction workers with Building Value  in Cincinnati are cleaning up wood and metal objects around the city. The group focuses on deconstructing homes and buildings while making sure those materials can live on.

“Everyday when we are recycling in our homes, we are recycling plastic and glass and paper things like this, but the huge part of the problem of landfills is the quantity of building materials that get sent to the landfill every year, and so that volume of what we are able to put back into use into people’s homes is really astounding,” Director, Building Value Sheryl Woodhouse said.

Director of Building Value, Sheryl Woodhouse, said they have seen the impact firsthand and have had more than 13 million pounds of materials diverted from the landfill over the last few years. The company also prioritizes building careers.

“We have two impacts that are very important, to us every year we train about 60 people for the construction trades and 30 people or so graduate from our programs and go on to commercial job sites and long term construction careers,” Woodhouse said.

Building Value executives said people sometimes don’t realize the opportunity of reusing things that still have value. Their goal is to clean the environment through reuse and recycling, and reduce the cost of waste disposal.

“Through Building Value, we do sustainable reconstruction. So, instead of things going to the landfill, we salvage doors, windows, cabinets and flooring,” Retail manager at Building Value Terry Brueneman said.

Retail manager Terry Brueneman says creating employment opportunities and cleaning waste both hit home for him

“Being able to train the different people and save things from ending up in the landfill to be reused in homes, it means a lot to me,” Brueneman said. “There just so many things people would throw away normally that could be saved from a home and reused.”

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