We put a tracking device on some construction waste. Here’s what we learned.

For many years, Boston Building Resources has used the slogan “Don’t Throw It Away” to encourage donations of reusable building materials. But what happens to the materials that do get tossed in a dumpster? We may stop thinking about the material that has been discarded, but its journey continues on.

To learn more, we attached trackers to a few pieces of construction waste to learn their fate. One was attached to a light fixture that had been donated, but broke in transport. We placed it in our construction waste dumpster and followed its journey.

The fixture traveled 160+ miles to the Dunn Landfill in Rensselaer, New York, which is adjacent to a public school. The Rensselaer Environmental Coalition reports that neighbors, including children on the school’s campus, suffer from exposure to PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or “forever chemicals”) as well as odors, dust, noise, and diesel fumes. They are lobbying for the state to deny the facility’s permit renewal.

There are no active landfills in Massachusetts, so construction waste is either incinerated or shipped out of state, where it becomes a bane for another community. Ramping up reuse is one way to keep material out of the landfill and direct it back into the circular economy, where it can enrich a community rather than turning into an environmental burden.