Shannon Goodman is Helping Make Material Reuse the Norm

Though the demolition contract had already been signed, Goodman—feeling a surge of courage and clarity after a six-month yoga teacher training—surprised herself by speaking up: Couldn’t some of the building’s original materials be salvaged for reuse, especially since Perkins&Will’s leadership was targeting LEED Platinum for the renovation? “Why would we only think about grinding this up and recycling? It didn’t make sense!” recalls Goodman. Working closely with the demolition contractor, Goodman went from assuming the endeavor would be a good exercise but not a “needle mover” to diverting 80 percent of demolition and construction waste (60 tons) from landfills and distributing it to more than 20 local nonprofit organizations. 

“That was the beginning of everything,” says Goodman. Inspired and propelled by the office project, Goodman went on to cofound Atlanta’s Lifecycle Building Center (LBC) in 2011, with the help of private donors and supporters at the U.S. Green Building Council, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and other organizations that were equally compelled and captivated by Goodman’s passion. “If one commercial office building could have that impact, what could we do if we had that every day?” says Goodman. 

The LBC has been answering that question for the past decade-plus from its headquarters in two 100-year-old warehouse buildings totaling 70,000 square feet on Atlanta’s industrial corridor Murphy Avenue. With a $70,000 operating budget, Goodman and her team of seven assess projects for deconstruction, help salvage and collect materials, store and redistribute those materials and products to nonprofits and disadvantaged communities, lead job trainings to create a workforce of people who are skilled in deconstruction and construction, and more. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Goodman also ran a $3.5 million capital campaign to renovate the warehouse. “It’s constant triage,” she says. “Though we’ve been around for 12 years, we are very tiny. Our industry is so grossly underinvested, and it will only change if there is an interest to expand to service the commercial sector.”

Despite its small size, the LBC’s challenges are emblematic of those embracing the growing deconstruction movement—or a circular economy—in the United States. The idea is simple enough on its face: To reach net zero by 2050 and avert the worst impacts of climate change—as called for in the Paris Agreement—building trades need to go beyond energy efficiency to address embodied carbon. Globally, cement and steel production alone account for 10 percent of CO₂ emissions. In a 2022 report and circularity toolkit, Arup and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation put it this way: “In a circular economy, renewable materials are used where possible, energy is provided from renewable sources, natural systems are preserved and enhanced, and waste and negative impacts are designed out. Materials, products, and components are instead managed in loops, maintaining them at their highest-possible intrinsic value.”

But the stumbling blocks are many: There is no clear road map or framework for stakeholders, policymakers, and others for developing, financing, or operating these “managed loops.” In some cases, cities are taking the lead. Ithaca, New York; Portland, Oregon; Baltimore; Palo Alto, California; and San Antonio have all adopted deconstruction ordinances. And some, like San Antonio, have material collection programs similar to the LBC’s, as well as contractor training. 

But Atlanta, said Goodman, is not going to lead from the top down. “It will have to be incentivized,” she says. Because of that Goodman helped develop ReBuildATL, a coalition of more than 40 local nonprofits, academic institutions, industry partners, and government agencies dedicated to community and industry outreach and education, as well as paid vocational training for disadvantaged individuals, enabling them to find long-term, living-wage jobs in construction, demolition, remodeling, facility management, and more. “The long-term moonshot for this whole initiative is to enable low-income homeowners and residents to address deficiencies and issues in their homes, like a hole in the roof or an inefficient building envelope,” says Goodman. “They most critically need access to renewable, lower-cost energy, and are the least positioned to access it.”