The NSW Reconstruction Authority (RA) are criticised regularly, often by this very publication, think the Resilient Lands Program. But the RA also do some good work that largely goes unpublished.

When an RA-owned buyback house is demolished, it is often put on social media, saying that the RA should be relocating the house or at least saving the old forest timbers, some of which are close to 100 years old.

The Lismore App was introduced to Brad Lees, Managing Director, of the Leez Group, a family-owned Northern Rivers-based company who have won contracts from the RA to deconstruct and recycle buyback houses.

To put a bulldozer through a buyback house is the easiest and cheapest option to remove it if it is deemed unlivable by the assessor. The timber and concrete can still be recycled, but considerably less than if the house were carefully deconstructed.

Brad said the initial assessment is completed by an occupational hygienist and a structural engineer. Once that is complete, the Leez Group will review the assessment report and submit a tender with the RA.

"We do a further assessment on how much we think we can we can salvage and recycle out of each dwelling from the contamination report. Those reports will be issued to us on the hazardous materials in the dwelling, for example, the asbestos, and how much there is, the quantities, and therefore we'll have to deal with it and price it based off that report.

"Obviously, there's a massive focus with the New South Wales Reconstruction Authority, and for us, the Leez Group, to salvage and recycle as much as possible in terms of building materials like timber, windows, doors, concrete and brick. Anything like that."

The Leez Group has deconstructed six properties so far. Included were two houses in Junction Street, East Lismore, the old Clean and Green Laundry building on Terania Street, North Lismore and the dwelling at the rear, and now Diadem Street in the CBD. Brad said he has another 15 to go as part of this tender.

(The house being deconstructed in Diadem Street, Lismore)

Brad's goal is to recycle between 80 to 85% of all houses he has to remove.

"For instance, our previous dwelling, I believe we hit a target of about 80% to 85% of recycled and reclaimed. That was over at Junction Street. So we did some estimates there. We recycled approximately 2,500 metres of timber, and we recycled approximately five ton of building materials, ie doors, windows, roofing sheets, garage doors and the like, so it was quite good.

To reach that 80-85% range of recycled material, the process is definitely slower than if it involved a machine only. The average house is five to seven days.

"It's definitely a lot less machine hours and it's more labour intensive, because obviously the timber and the doors and the windows have to be salvaged for someone to reuse. So, it's carefully deconstructed, so we can then preserve those materials so they can be reused again throughout the community.

"It takes 5 to 7 days to take it down to the ground, and then we pull up the concrete. That will all go off locally to get crushed up and reused as road base, driveways, and some people are using it for drainage as well, which is great."

One of the questions often raised within the community is who is benefiting from the recycled house materials. Where was it going? For Brad and the Leez Group, that involves three local Northern Rivers businesses.

"We've had a long-term relationship with AJ Magnay in North Lismore for probably ten years now, then there's Solid Grain and Red Neds.

"Solid Grain sells a lot of reclaimed timber and makes a lot of furniture out of it, and also has the community come and purchase the timber back off him for their projects. Then there's Red Ned's as well, who are up around the Tweed area."

What comes across is a commonsense approach to the three local companies acquiring the material. Sometimes it is free, and other times they pay to resell it to the public.

"It depends on what it is. So, if it's a material that has taken us minimal time to get out, and it's just put aside, they'll just take it, but if it's timber that we've got to de-nail and unbolt, then they'll pay and obviously sell it.

"I would say that throughout our first six dwellings, we've hit, hit a target of 80 to 85% of recycling and salvage of the materials, which I and the boys are proud of and excited about."

AJ Magnay is receiving interior fixings, windows, doors, and smallish type stuff.

"I haven't been doing the timber at the moment because I've still got plenty here," AJ told the Lismore App. "Solid Grain has been doing the timber at this point in time.

"Finally, we are getting some results of actually getting stuff physically recycled through a system that can be sent back out to the public to be reused. They're physically pulling it down, piece by piece. They're salving as much as they possibly can, within reason, some stuff you just can't, it's just not viable to do.

"But, the Leez Group and some of the other guys who are involved now are actually doing some fantastic stuff with the recycling."

As AJ had mentioned, some of the recycled timber he has in his yard on Macaulay Street, North Lismore, has been there for quite a while. He explained that Solid Grain have machinery that can turn the structural four-by-twos into decking material.

"There's generally copious amounts of four by twos or 100 by 50s. What he's been doing is splitting it down the centre, and then what they call wire brushing them and harassing the edges, so it looks like a weathered decking board. It looks like it's been there for 20 years, whereas the timber itself could be up to 120 to 130 years old. So, they're repurposing that back into what I'd call a modern-day trendy product."

The benefit of having the machinery to transform large structural timber into decking timber is better turnover, as there is more need for the product.

As we were finishing the interview, AJ Mganay got the last plug in for his local recycling business.

"If people want, they can come here for timbers, windows and doors, and there'll be more coming. We picked up a little bit more today. It'll be an ongoing thing, and over time, we will start to get timber as well. When I make a little bit of room in the yard."