Go Green: Rochester Greenovation
By: Katrina Irwin
Updated: August 23, 2012
A new not-for-profit group in our areas is helping to keep household items from the landfill. Rochester Greenovation is a place where the past is re-invented.
Here, there is no limit to what someone's trash can become. "There is so much in the way of construction and demolition waste that is going in the landfill right now and there is really a disconnect between that and the needs local people have to fix their houses," says Jay Rowe, the Founder of Rochester Greenovation.
This new not for profit takes in things like furniture and household fixtures. They save them from the landfill and then sell them to the public. Some items like windows and doors are used to repair homes. But what's surprising is what many of these things are used for the second time around.
"It could be old siding, old plywood, or an old door and they'll use that as a canvas rather than the traditional artistic mediums," Rowe adds.
There's really no limit to the types of things they'll take because there are many creative minds in our area that can find a new use for them.
"We have a rotating schedule of artists, a couple of core artists that like to call this place home. They are really in tune with working with reclaimed materials from old lumber to doors to furniture," adds Rowe.
The store located on East Main Street in Rochester, is run by volunteers. All of them have a passion to protect the planet, one piece at a time.

