The Habitat for Humanity Mid-Vancouver Island ReStore is holding their annual customer appreciation event on Monday, Sept 1, showing off their recently expanded reuse facility on Mostar Rd. in Nanaimo. (Alex Rawnsley/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By Jordan Davidson

Recycle, reuse, ReStore

Nanaimo’s longest-running Habitat for Humanity ReStore has expanded

Sep 1, 2025 | 5:10 AM

NANAIMO — Contractors, trade workers and their suppliers now have an easier way than ever to find new life for their excess construction material, instead of throwing it away.

Nanaimo’s Habitat for Humanity Mid-Vancouver Island ReStore has expanded, providing even more space to donate excess or used construction materials.

ReStore manager Dawn McHarg said they’re excited to be able to provide even more opportunities for people to get involved in the circular economy.

“We have our Habitat goal and mission to generate funds for our builds, but we also really want to keep it out of the landfills, show people that there’s things they can do with these items that don’t need to just get thrown away. It’s a pretty important mandate for us here.”

Any used construction items can be donated to the Habitat ReStore in Nanaimo, including spare planks of wood, as long as all the nails have been removed. (Alex Rawnsley/NanaimoNewsNOW)

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She said their Nanaimo location at 4128 Mostar Rd. is their oldest ReStore in the province, celebrating 30 years in operation in December, with the funds from the resold material going directly back into building affordable homes.

New features include a higher selection of building materials, a construction site concierge pick-up service offering weekly and on-demand routes, and educational material on the impacts of reusing and how much waste is diverted from landfills.

Donors can also be provided with tax receipts for any donation.

McHarg said there’s not an awful lot of building materials they won’t take, provided the items are still in good shape and can still be used in other projects.

“Cinder blocks, bricks…. those items that people probably don’t know what to do with, but we will take them, we put them on pallets in the back and people reuse them. We’ve done salvages in homes where we’ve taken fireplace bricks out. Everything is reusable.”

Their annual customer appreciation event, their ‘ReStore Summer Social’, is happening on Monday, Sept. 1, from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. at their Mostar Rd. location, inviting the public to see what they do, along with celebrating the launch of the expanded service.

“We do a really kid-driven event. We have the bouncy castle, we have candy cones, we have a BBQ going, we have sales in both our stores, our drop-off donation is open. We will have Girl Guides here selling out the front, we have 102.3 The Wave doing their live on location here,” said McHarg.

Habitat ReStore is a collaborative initiative from Habitat for Humanity Mid-Vancouver Island and Light House’s Building Material Exchange Program (BMEx), with funding provided through the Regional District of Nanaimo. (Alex Rawnsley/NanaimoNewsNOW)

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