Answer:  Are you in luck!  The ReUse People of America, a nonprofit public benefit corporation founded in 1993 with home office and warehouse located in Oakland, demonstrated early on the need for used building materials and the impact of this need on already overused and over committed landfills.

The mission of TRP is two fold.

The first is to help people like you who are concerned about improving the environment. This is accomplished by demolition (they like the word "deconstruction" better) contractors, TRP certified to carefully deconstruct buildings and properly salvage their usable materials, which typically can save between 50 and 75 percent of a given house.  In turn, this conserves the environment by reducing the amount of waste relegated to landfills and saves energy by reducing the need to manufacture new, replacement materials.Tax donation documentation is available for every private building owner. The value of used building material donations, according to TRP, can often be substantial - large enough to pay for the costs of deconstruction.

The second is economic and is designed to improve the standard of living in local communities. The salvaged materials - including appliances, plumbing, electrical, hardware, architectural details, framing lumber, roofing, windows and doors - are delivered to a regional retail warehouse for reuse. The Los Angeles region warehouse in Pacoima opened in 2008. Selling retail enables homeowners to purchase quality materials at bargain prices. Part of this economic program is the training of unemployed individuals in deconstruction skills which helps them gain sufficient experience to move up to higher wage positions within the construction industry.

So, by donating your building materials, you are not only helping yourself and others by improving the environment, you are also coming to aid of lower income shoppers and wage earners.

Please call TRP Los Angeles Regional Manager Arthur Renaud at 310-946-3179 for more information.