In 1997, when Stardust's co-founder Jerry Bisgrove and his wife decided to remodel their home, they told a friend to take whatever she wanted before they started the typical sledgehammer demo. To their surprise, when he and his wife returned to inspect the property they discovered that all of the usable material from the home was gone. Their friend used some of the items to remodel her own home, sold items to friends and relatives, and gave materials to those in need. It is from these humble beginnings that Stardust — a nonprofit — was born. 

Companies such as Stardust are working to stop waste from ending up in landfills by providing deconstruction services and selling discounted building materials. Their reuse center sells gently-used, salvaged, and surplus building supplies (often donated by contractors or building supply stores) at affordable prices.

Just recently, Stardust also participated in Mesa's Green Business Certification Program. The City of Mesa partnered with Local First Arizona to recognize local businesses and assist those who want to become more sustainable through hands-on, cost-savings-oriented measures. In this recent video, you can hear from Stardust CEO Karen Jayne about how simple, yet impactful the process was for Stardust. "It’s little things,” she said. “There’s lots of little things that business owners can do to make their businesses more green and just really helps all of us.” 

Not only is Stardust a green business in the sense that they divert waste from landfills, but by participating in the green business program they are reducing their water use, energy costs, carbon emissions, and more.

We want to hear from you! Are you concerned about the environment, air quality, or our extended drought? We are asking for a few minutes of your time so that we can gather your climate action ideas, priorities, and concerns. Your opinion will help guide a collective vision for our community. Weigh in on how, together, we can make Mesa greener and cleaner. Visit Footprint for the Future.

Next Wed., Nov. 17, learn about Food Systems as part of our Climate Action Plan virtual lunchtime series. Register here and also find past recorded workshops.

WaterSense Labeled Homes: Building in Water Savings for Arizona You’ve probably seen the WaterSense label at your local home improvement store when you’ve shopped for products like toilets and showerheads, but WaterSense even has a label for homes. In February of 2020, KB Homes at Allred Ranch in Mesa, hosted a demonstration for the certification process.  

Don’t be alarmed, but the holidays are just around the corner, which often include family gatherings and lots of food. With everything from unwanted kitchen scraps, to spoiled produce, and uneaten leftovers in between, a lot of food ends up in landfills where it will create methane emissions, a potent greenhouse gas with negative effects. We encourage you to Reduce and Reuse unwanted food with these tips:

Sat. Dec 11, 10 a.m. to Noon. 

[This sounds like fun!]

Learn the fundamental steps to Build Your Own Basin and plant a rain garden. Led by experts from Watershed Management Group (WMG), you'll be guided on how to build your own basin in your yard to capture rain and plant a native shade tree! 

Take home a BYOB Kit before you leave the brewery! It includes a native shade tree, wildflower seeds, native shrubs or grasses (as available), organic mulch, a WMG hydro-local growler, and WMG’s first-ever zine with step-by-step instructions to get you started. Limited to 60 participants!

Location: Four Peaks Brewery's Tempe location,1340 E 8th St #104.