BRING Recycling reborn.

Byline: Diane Dietz The Register-Guard

Not everybody likes the new BRING Recycling center, which has launched in slow motion over the past week.

The venerable recycling center has gone from a cramped chaotic acre of muddy land that featured a jumble of aromatic wares to a tidy, warehouse-style retail space.

The agency's junkyard ambience has given way to a controlled, high-ceilinged and well-lighted shopping emporium on a three-acre campus.

BRING regular Kris Ruchti took in the new scene on Wednesday.

"You know, it's change," he said. "Men hate change."

BRING has always had shoppers who are propelled by a desire to reduce their impact on the Earth. Those people are thrilled by the nonprofit recycler's new, $1.75 million Planet Improvement Center in Glenwood behind the big Franklin Avenue 

U-Haul outlet.

But BRING has also developed another market segment - remodelers, landlords, hobbyist carpenters - that is more likely to show up in 4-by-4 pickup trucks than in gas-sipping hybrids.

They are among the 10 percent to 15 percent of BRING customers who are wary of the new recycling center, Executive Director Julie Daniel said. "They like pawing through stuff."

To some of them, the new building is more like shopping than a treasure hunt.

It's not the same, said Ruchti, who was hunting for something to use as a frame for fabric to shade his cool-weather vegetables.

`You could come up with an armful of stuff and say, `I'll give you $5' and they'd take it,' he said. "I'm not sure that will happen here."

Daniel said the center has not raised its resale prices because of the move and the new construction. The money for building came from donations from foundations, businesses and individuals.

"We're humbled by the public's amazing, generous support," she said.

The recycling center is using the same price guide it adopted eight years ago, she said. Items are priced between 20 percent to 70 percent of their new cost.

But some customers are simply wont to complain about prices. "They really do want something for just about nothing," she said.

Some prices at the new center may be higher, Daniel said. That's because the staff has room to sort and individually price items - including the small pieces of hardware - more efficiently. No longer will a harried clerk produce a price on the spot.

The agency has a payroll and rising health care prices to meet Daniel said.

Still, regular attendees who make large purchases will find themselves paying a lower price, but that will have to be established with the warehouse workers. The clerk has no authority to haggle.

It's best to seek out the warehouse manager, whose motto is "Nobody should leave BRING unhappy," Daniel said.

BRING is reaching out for a broader audience to deliver its message of reuse, Daniel said.

A reused item saves the energy of extracting new resources, the energy of manufacturing, the energy of packaging and the energy in shipping. The more people buy used, the better from a planetary standpoint, he said.

"BRING is more than just a cheap price," Daniel said.

The early evidence shows a new clientele is turning up at BRING. They can thumb through the center's 120-plus doors outside of the rain. They can leave without muddy feet.

"Oh, the paved parking," Daniel said. "People are so happy."

Eugene-Springfield homebuilder Larry Lucas checked out BRING for the first time. He said he could use the materials for his own home projects.

"Just curious," he said. "Just looking to see what they've got."

Joann Brosnan shopped at the old recycling center for a couple of years to find materials for all sorts of home improvement projects. She rated the new BRING digs as near perfect.

"You don't have to watch your feet for something jumping out of the ground and biting you," she said.

BRING FACTS

Hours: 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday at the newly dubbed "Planet Improvement Center"

New location: 4446 Franklin Blvd., Glenwood, 1 1/2 miles north of BRING's former site

RE-MOVING SALE

BRING Recycling wants help clearing building materials out of its old site on Franklin Boulevard near Seavey Loop. Prices will be dirt cheap, an organizer said.

Sale hours: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. June 15, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. June 16.