Petrina Rhines believes that one home's trash is another's foundation. She is the founder and executive director for Birch Group and Scrapbox Salvage Company.
Birch Group is a deconstruction company and Scrapbox Salvage Company is a building material reuse store.
"This is hard to find this type of wood," Rhines said, giving KARE 11 a tour of her shop in north Minneapolis. "Basically, we go into the homes, come back to Scrapbox Salvage and we resell them to the public. So, we brand ourselves as a circular economy company."
Rhines started the non-profits three years ago and, in the process, is breaking barriers, too.
"This is definitely something women can do. We are very strong," Rhines said.
It all started when she was in her early 20s and she purchased her first home from the City of Minneapolis.
"They were going to take a wrecking ball to it. I was like, 'This house is beautiful, look at the character of the house,'" Rhines said. "And I was like, 'Nope, they're not crushing this house.'"
From there, she continued learning.
"I then went to Steger Center up north, with Will Steger and I was his understudy," Rhines said.
Rhines built her businesses on deconstruction rather than demolition.
"I just have a really big passion for what I do. I just want to save those trees," Rhines said.
Scrapbox Salvage Company is set to expand in Virginia, Minnesota, in the spring of next year.
Also, a heads up for homeowners, builders & designers, Hennepin, Ramsey and Washington Counties have grants available for projects that reuse and recycle building materials.
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