The BRING Recycling resale yard -- with its eclectic collection of used items bulging from tents and lining narrow dirt walkways -- has all the elements of a festive outdoor flea market.

You name it, and they probably have it. Aluminum siding. Kitchen cabinets. Canning jars. French doors. Light fixtures. Flower pots. And toilets in every color of the rainbow.

Some of the items are collected by volunteers at the Glenwood Central Receiving Station -- affectionately known as the city dump -- where BRING has a contract with Lane County to process recyclable materials for the public. Other items are brought in by homeowners and contractors.

The 21-employee recycling business is unique, says Julie Daniel, BRING's special projects coordinator, because it promotes recycling, reusing and a new program called deconstruction. The one-year-old program, which concentrates on taking down small homes and salvaging the materials, is one of the few of its kind in the country, Daniel says.

So far, two tons of material have been gleaned through the deconstruction of three homes. The first, an 800-squarefoot house, provided 15 tons of material for reuse, Daniel says. "Three-quarters was kept from the landfill," she adds.

Another project, a farmhouse, had only 11 percent waste. Many of the materials were sold right on the site, which reduced loading and transportation costs. Crews are now preparing a fourth home near the Eugene Rose Garden for similar disposal.

BRING hasn't had to do any advertisement to get rid of the deconstruction materials, Daniels says, adding that word-of-mouth seems enough to prompt customers -- mostly contractors and home remodelers -- to haul away hardwood floors, wood siding and solid wood doors. "Deconstruction is the new wave in obtaining materials," she says.

BRING has enjoyed a successful year, plowing its profits back into the business by purchasing a newer truck for its cardboard collection route and a front-end loader with a bigger bucket to push recyclables into cages at the receiving station.

Daniel says that although a number of small Lane County business participate in reuse programs, larger businesses can still do a lot more by contributing used parts, phased out items and damaged goods such as the slightly blemished shower stall that was recently donated by Home Depot. "Part of the expenses for a business could be reduced by lowering the garbage bill," she says, adding that contributions to BRING are also tax-deductible.

But government-run businesses, like the University of Oregon, are prevented from donating used materials because current regulations prohibit government property from being resold. Daniel says legislation needs to be rewritten to encourage reuse. "When you reuse something, you recapture that energy. Even recycling takes energy, although less than recreating," she says. "Reuse is what we stress."

Copyright (c) 1997-98 OLIFE -- Oregonians for Labor Intensive Forest Economics. All rights reserved.