PRSA Pittsburgh provided Construction Junction (CJ) with a communication plan to celebrate its 25th anniversary in 2024. The plan will help CJ creatively tell the story of its 25th anniversary and reintroduce itself to Pittsburgh!

What is Construction Junction?

Construction Junction (CJ) is a nonprofit warehouse supplying surplus construction materials and appliances at reduced prices. They create awareness of the importance of transitioning from a world focused on demolishing and disposing to a world where disassembling, adapting, and repurposing are the norms. CJ’s mission is to promote conservation through the reuse of building materials.

Celebrating 25 years of Construction Junction

Construction Junction plans to celebrate this momentous milestone beginning in January 2024, culminating with an event on November 12, 2024. To commemorate this milestone, PRSA Pittsburgh and CJ developed a robust communication strategy. The Construction Junction 25th Anniversary Strategic Communication Plan incorporates ideas across paid, earned, and owned media to highlight the impact Construction Junction has made so far and build excitement for the future. Some of the notable ideas include creating a community art project, leveraging CJ’s impact report, organizing a sip and shop event, leveraging partnerships, and other tactics. Additionally, PRSA Pittsburgh also supplied CJ with a social media tips sheet, media relations guide and a pitch letter for influencer outreach. 

Why is CJ promoting recycling and reuse of building materials for the past 25 years?

Construction and Demolition (C&D) materials consist of the debris generated during the construction, renovation and demolition of buildings, roads, and bridges. According to EPA, in the US, C&D materials generated 600 million tons of debris in 2018 (compared with 292 tons of municipal solid waste), with 148 million tons going to landfills. These materials account for a considerable portion of the waste stream. However, they can be diverted from landfill and repurposed into new beneficial uses. While recycling construction and demolition debris is growing, reuse in this waste stream is rare and hard to quantify. According to the 2019 City of Pittsburgh Demolition Permits, the quantity of debris is estimated at 81,000 tons, and the projected potential value of building components is over $3.5 million. 

Construction Junction has been instrumental in keeping such building materials worth $27.6 million in active reuse since 1999 and repurposing more than $5.75 million building materials in the Pittsburgh region itself. The nonprofit believes that this is just the tip of the iceberg and is working hard to develop more partnerships to elevate the impact. This Impact Report by Construction Junction offers a comprehensive view of their impressive work. 

The PRSA Pittsburgh Public Service Project is an annual initiative with goals of supporting local nonprofits and providing hands-on experience to its members. To learn more or to volunteer for the committee, contact Jocelyn Buhite at jocelynbuhite@gmail.com.